Mass Effect: Andromeda (Reimagined)
by Rabenkopf
Summary: How far are you ready to go? The Initiative decided to realize the biggest project of human history: a journey to the Andromeda Nebula. But colonization without a Plan B is a difficult project, above all when things happen nobody has expected. After meeting a hostile alien race and losing their golden worlds, everything is at stake. Will the newcomers find a way to win and survive?
1. Prolog - Awakening

In the year 2185, humanity lives in a golden era of interstellar travel.

Our discovery of ancient alien ruins on Mars propelled our understanding

of science and technology ahead by thousands of years.

While many now enjoy the newfound freedom and challenges of

exploration in the Milky Way, others look to even more distant stars.

For the hundred thousand adventurers embarking on this one-way voyage,

the future begins in…

 **Mass Effect**

 **Andromeda**

(fixed)

 **Prolog – Awakening**

Light was the first thing he saw. It wasn't bright, but it still hurt in the eyes – like being awaken in the middle of a long, deep sleep. He groaned, while his eyes tried to adjust to the lights shining on them.

"Are you well?", a voice asked, sounding unfamiliar, but his eyes only saw a blurred silhouette. It took him few seconds to start seeing better, recognizing the sympathetic, brown face of an Initiative-Technician, wearing the jobs typical grey-blue uniform.

Instead of answering he focused on his body, forcing his arms and legs to move. First he lifted his upper body up, getting into a sitting position, before pulling himself out of the pod he was lying in for who knows how long. It was harder than expected and after his feet touched the ground outside of the pod, he needed to gasp for breath first. It took him only few seconds, when a realization hit him and he started to smile, saying with a certain relief: "We made it…"

He got into a more comfortable sitting position, realizing that the technician wasn't alone: a female technician was close by, wearing a similar uniform to her partner but instead with white as dominant color, similar to his own uniform. "Deep breaths. You're gonna want to take it easy.", the first technician warned him, sounding sincerely worried.

"I've been taking it easy for 600 years…", he replied with an amused smile, looking up to the technician, although he needed to admit, that he still felt the efforts of leaving the pod in his muscles – as if he had ran a marathon.

"Ryder, Scott, Recon Specialist, Pathfinder Mission Team.", the other technician starting reading from a pad, with a very monotonous sounding voice, before her partner commented it with "Pathfinder Team, eh? The ones finding us a home.", sounding quite happy about it.

"Can you make it somewhere tropical?", the female technician joined in, sounding really hopeful and joking at the same time, "Nice warm ocean…summer year-round..."

"How about we get him a cup of coffee first?", the male technician stopped her from further describing her dreamlike new home, before both of them took an arm of Scott and pulled him up. Together they started to leave the Pod Chamber, although Ryder couldn't stop himself from looking around, seeing all the pods, still active, still working. _We really made it…_ he thought and started to smile once again.

"The selection process saw…", was heard from the Vid-Screen in the background, showing right now a tropical looking place, "…the Andromeda Initiative evaluate thousands of potential habitable planets within the galaxy.", before switching to an image of a drifting asteroid close to a planet and a moon. Scott looked in this direction and needed to smile again. _So much to see…where no man has gone before…_

"Scott Ryder?", his train of thoughts was interrupted and he looked up to see a blue-skinned Asari Doctor. Her species looked almost identical to humans, with three exceptions: their complexion tended to reach from blue to purple; they didn't have hair on their heads, but instead semi-flexible, cartilage-based scalp-crests looking awfully close to tentacles; and finally they were purely female – no men needed for reproduction.

She additionally had a straight, thin, white line drawn from her lips to her chin and she wore the job's almost white uniform with red lines here and there. "Let's get you checked out. Look here.", she instructed with her well-spoken voice, moving her hand from one side to another, while at the same time looking at her Omni-tool, where data was displayed on a holographic window.

"After discovering an unusually high ration of potential candidates, or 'golden worlds', the Heleus Cluster was selected as our destination.", the vid screen continued, showing now a vale with lakes and surrounded by high mountains, before showing a desert world looking like in the old Western-Movie-Vids, "Now you are a part of the first wave of arks arriving in Andromeda: our new home for humanity."

In the meantime the Doctor checked Ryders chin and neck with her gloved hands, before taking a pad close by to check the data there. Scott looked at the screen again, before the Asari commented it with "Makes it sound so easy, doesn't it?"

He looked back to her. "I hope not.", Scott disagreed, sounding casual, "I signed up for a little adventure before we settle down."

"Well, buckle up.", the doctor replied, sounding a little bit amused, "Sounds like you'll get your wish."

That surprised Scott. "Yeah?", he asked curiously.

Instead of answering, the Asari lifted her free arm and the corresponding forefinger, ordering Ryder: "Over here.", whereas he looked there without problems, so that she could start moving the finger slowly, while his eyes followed it. In the meantime she answered the question: "The Pathfinder wants you all on your feet right away. He said 'mission-ready within the hour'."

"Any idea why?", Scott asked again curiously, while the Asari inserted the data into her pad.

"No.", she answered without looking up, "But I'm guessing that's where your 'adventure' comes in."

Scott's smile returned and the feeling of excitement started to rush through his body. "Okay, everything checks out.", the Asari finished her examination, going to a terminal beside him so that Scott could look straight ahead to another former, pod-sleeping member of the Initiative – he had brown skin and black, short Rasta hair, while his clothes were white, black and blue – sitting on another bay bed, "Just one more thing before I send you on your way…", the other guy smiled and greeted Scott with his hand, while another doctor checked him out, "Let's test your SAM implant. SAM, are you monitoring?", no response was heard, so she repeated, "SAM? Are you online?"

"Yes, Dr. T'Perro.", a computer-like voice answered suddenly, "Good morning, Ryder. Are you feeling well?"

Scott was surprised first, having completely forgotten about the ship's Virtual Intelligence – or in short VI – and the monitoring implants inserted into his body, which allowed SAM to see what he sees. He looked back to the Holo-Image of the VI, projected down from the ceiling and looking like a mess of bluish circuits. He needed a moment, before he answered: "I just need a second to get my bearings.", he took a breath.

SAM replied in the meanwhile: "As the team's mission computer, your well-being is my primary concern."

Ryder needed to smile about that, while shaking his head. "I'm ready to get to it.", he replied finally, feeling still odd with this VI implant inside his head. _Hopefully it's worth the while…_

"Readings confirmed.", SAM explained with his matter-of-fact voice, "I detect an increased level of adrenaline in your system. The neural implant is functioning properly."

"Caffeine always did make me jumpy.", Scott commented on that grinning lightly.

"You're all done.", Dr. T'Perro said going back to Scott, while he put down the empty cup, where his coffee was few minutes ago, "Let's get you on your way.", before helping him up. To his relief it didn't feel as exhausting as the last time – actually it felt like he never slept in this pod for nearly 600 years. _That's promising…_ he thought satisfied, while the doctor added: "Though you may want to hang around, while we revive your sister."

Ryder looked there, where her forefinger pointed at: another cryo pod close by, where the same technicians, who woke up him, were working right now. He didn't need to think long about that, answering: "Sure."

Dr T'Perro answered with a satisfied smile first, before starting to explain: "It always helps to see a familiar fa-"

Suddenly everyone heard a noise, as if metal was bending. Everyone started look around, uncertainty written on their faces. "I don't like the sound of that.", Scott commented, while the lights started to flicker. Everyone started looking up, when all of a sudden they were thrown down, reacting to something, which felt the ship hit something. _Wha-….?!,_ Ryder thought surprised, while landing on his hands and knees, trying to prevent a broken nose. Everyone looked shocked and some even cried out, while falling down.

As quickly as it came, the ship restabilized and Scott was trying to get up as everyone else. When he heard a noise, he looked up and saw how a cryo pod sliding right at him and Dr. T'Perro. _Shit…_ his last thoughts were, before he closed his eyes, expecting the impact.

But it never came.

The artificial gravitation has stopped working and the pod started to float at the right timing: it passed the two above them, missing them by a narrow margin, before bumping into the next wall. Relieved Ryder started to lose touch with the ground as well, while the Asari asked confused: "What's happening?"

Scott's training on Arcturus Station kicked in and he tried to calm down, trying to assess the situation, while floating around in midspace like everyone and everything not screwed on else. "Just hang on!", he commanded, looking around, but finding nothing of use.

"Engineering, report!", was heard via the loudspeakers from an obviously female voice, while Ryder tried to move in zero gravity.

"Gravity in cryo bay is offline!", came the answer via loudspeakers, while Ryder's efforts to move ended up fruitless without anything to push himself off close by.

"I'm almost inside! Hold on!", another, more vigorous sounding, female voice replied in the loudspeakers, seconds before the bay door opened and a woman with short, pale-blond hair within an undercut hairstyle, parted on the left side, entered the room, floating as well. She wore another Inititative-uniform, similar to the guy from earlier with black as dominant color.

"This is Cora!", she said so loud that everyone and especially the Intercom could hear her, "I'm at the cryo bay! Brace for a reset…", before typing something into a terminal and few seconds later gravity was back online – everyone fell down to the ground, gasping and moaning. "Everyone okay?", Cora asked afterwards to everybody around, trying to smile in an assuring way.

"I think so.", Dr. T'Perro answered.

"What happened?", Scott added looking around once again, if everyone was indeed okay.

"We're not sure.", Cora answered, the only one on her two feet right now, "Sensors are scrambled. But it's good to see you're up.", she added, after Ryder got on his feet, "Feels like centuries since we spoke."

"Ha, ha…", Scott answered with a dry laugh about this unnecessary joke, right before a new, male voice could be heard via the loudspeakers again: "This is the Pathfinder. Mission teams, continue preparations. Cora, Ryders, report to the bridge."

Dutifully Cora replied only: "You heard him, let's get-", right before the male technician from earlier interrupted her: "Uh, we have a problem over here."

Everyone looked to one of the cryo pods, which looked a little bit damaged. "It's Sara Ryder.", the technician confirmed, which surprised Scott above everyone else. With a worried face he, Cora and Dr. T'Perro ran instantly to the pod.

"What's wrong?", Cora asked immediately.

"I don't know. Have to check it out.", Dr. T'Perro answered activating her Omni-tool.

"Give it a second for the processor to sync.", the male technician added.

"Did the seals break?", Dr. T'Perro asked, sounding quite focused.

"No. Physical integrity looks good.", the technician answered, reading from a pad.

"Is my sister okay?", Scott asked with a worried voice, looking down at the pod.

"Sara's fine.", Dr. T'Perro answered few moments after lowering her Omni-Tool again, "Her vitals are strong, but the revival procedure was interrupted."

"When can she wake up?", Ryder asked and sounded obviously relieved.

"We don't want to rush it.", Dr. T'Perro answered, before activating her Omni-Tool once again, "SAM?"

"My connection to Sara's implant was suspended.", the VI answered as robot-like as ever, "However, her pulse, respiration and brain activity are all normal.

"To be on the safe side,…", Dr. T'Perro began, while Scott crossed his arms, "…we get her out of the pod cautiously, keeping her in a low-level coma for the beginning. Then stop doing that and let her body regain consciousness naturally.", and after seeing Scott's worried face again, she added: "She'll be fine."

Ryder still looked a little bit worried, but still said: "Glad to hear it.", before taking a breath.

"Thanks, Lexi. Keep us updated.", Cora interrupted further talking, using Dr. T'Perros first name, before her further words were directed at Scott, "Ryder, we need to go. Your father is waiting."

Scott nodded, while following Cora to the door. Passing Lexi and the technician he eavesdropped. "How do you want to handle this?", the technician asked.

"Keep them in the pod for now.", Dr. T'Perro answered, sounding like she was considering first, "Round the clock monitoring. We don't know if they're in true stasis anymore."

"Right.", the technician agreed, "So parts of the body could be waking up."

"But others aren't.", she added, "We can't be sure just yet."

He couldn't hear the rest properly anymore, although he overheard that the topic was providing the bodies with the necessary foods and meds in their current states. Passing the cryo bay he noticed the technical damages shown by small sparks here and there, as well like the other awakened crew members, who weren't as fine as he was yet. Above all the guy with the Rastas looked still quite pale, talking about 'the world turned upside down' or about 'arrived and already crashing the car'.

Cora and he reached the door finally and after opening it, they saw how a group of crewmates were running to the left side, shouting at each other. "What's wrong?!", one of them asked.

"We've got a surge in power readings!", another answered and sounded flushed. Only one moment later something exploded, only few stairs upwards. _Damn…_ Scott thought, protecting his eyes from the explosion few steps ahead.

It didn't take long till another engineer, standing right on the damaged machine itself explained: "Whatever hit the ark fried everything! We have to balance the power load or it could explode!"

"But we don't know where the fault is!", the male engineer from earlier explained, still flushed.

"Ryder could find it – he has a scanner!", Cora explained, before ordering him, "Quick, Ryder! Use it to locate the fault!"

"On it!", Scott replied dutifully and was already on his way to the already smoking machine.

"I'll try to get readings on the second conduit.", Cora explained and went right instead of left.

Ryder activated his Omni-tool and its scanning program. He screened the machine, where the first sparks were seen, while the male engineer explained: "Try scanning the whole conduit." He scanned the Phase Coil and the Axial Coupling, but SAM informed him, that these parts were working properly. Not before he scanned the Compensator Relay, SAM explained: "Relay 2-C shows damage from a temperature spike."

"Found it!", Scott replied and went to it to reset it. Connecting his Omni-tool with the machine itself remotely gave him access to the grid, resetting it successfully. "The grid is recovering!", one of the engineers yelled with relief in his voice. "Thank god. That could've been the end of everyone in the cryo bay.", another explained taking a breath.

"Good job, Ryder. Now we can get to the tram.", Cora explained returning to him, before going the stairs up to the next door. They opened it and entered quite an empty corridor, with one decorative plant in each corner only, while doctors were checking some hurt crew members here and there. "That was close.", Cora added, while passing the corridor, "Barely in Andromeda, and we're already scrambling."

Scott slapped on a fake smile, replying: "The adventure begins.", right before they reached the door on the other side of the corridor. Behind it a small chamber was found, with a big screen right ahead of them, showing the whole size of the Ark Hyperion – the ship they were traveling right now.

"Not sure your dad will see it that way.", Cora answered, while entering the chamber, which turned out to be the tram. Scott followed her, while she pushed some buttons on the screen. "Hopefully it looks better on the bridge than here.", she commented right before the tram started moving.

They reached their destination few minutes later. Cora opened another door here, entering a bluish dimmed room. "Helm control, report!", the voice of a bridge crew member was the first thing the two of them heard, while another one ran from the left to the right side of the room.

"We're drifting!", another voice replied, sounding stressed.

"Flight controls aren't responding!", a third voice added, sounding rather professional than stressed.

"First priority is stopping these outages!", a female voice commanded, coming right from ahead of Cora and Scott. The woman with the short, black hair, oriental looking face and an uniform dominated by dark-grey and white colors was standing right at a railing, few meters in front of which a wall-sized screen was found, showing…

 _What the hell...?,_ Ryder thought seeing this orange-brown-grey-whatever grid-like looking thing, drifting right in front of the Hyperion – in the middle of space! _It looks like…I don't know…a monster? A net? Nebula? A cloud?_

"Mainline power's been knocked out!", another bridge crew member replied, "We're on reserves, Captain! They won't last!"

"What's our position?", a deep, authoritative voice asked, coming from another person entering the room from the left. He looked older, wearing a black-grey beard, but also collected and calm, while looking at the screen like the captain. "Unknown.", she answered his question, "We lost telemetry!"

"SAM.", the older man commanded, talking to nobody in particular, "We need eyes out there."

"Attempting to adjust sensor array.", SAM answered as factual as ever.

"Alec, please…", the captain turned towards him, sounding a little bit emotional, "You may be Pathfinder, but this is my ship."

The Pathfinder stepped towards her. "Captain, the protocol's clear: in absence of communication with the Nexus or the other Arks, we proceed to our appointed golden world. Solid ground.", he explained factually, as calm as before.

"If it's even out there.", the captain replied, swinging around her arms, "Nobody said anything about running into an energy cloud – and that's just a wild guess what we hit."

The Pathfinder didn't give an answer to that, but instead looked at the screen once again. "Alec, I need to assess the damage.", the captain continued, "Stop the bleeding. We've got 20.000 people asleep on this ship…", she took a breath, "Let's give them a chance to wake up."

"Can you blame her?", Cora whispered to Scott, who was listening to the conversation as well like she was. He thought about an answer for a moment, before saying it so loud that the other two could hear him as well: "My father's got a point though. Solid ground's sounding pretty good right now."

Cora wanted to answer that, right before Alec interrupted them, turning his head towards the two: "'Pretty good' isn't good enough."

Cora and Scott immediately started to stood more like at attention. "Yes, Sir.", Scott replied.

The Pathfinder looked at his son, but before he could add something else, the captain reported: "We're coming through.", before adding, "My god…"

Everyone looked back at the screen, where a planet with a wide ring appeared right behind the cloud. "Is that our golden world?", the captain asked not very sure.

The Pathfinder replied confidently: "That's Habitat 7. 'New Earth', if we're lucky.", right before leaving the elevated platform of the bridge with its railing, to go down to the control panels further in the front, downwards and closer to the big screen. Scott and Cora came closer to the railing, while the Pathfinder continued explaining: "All of our long-range scans told us it was in the green zone. Perfect for human settlement.", he reached an activated holo-projector, where he used his hands to show a projection of a planet.

"It doesn't even look the same.", Cora commented comparing the projection created by the former scans and the actual planet shown at the screen.

"She's right.", Scott agreed, "It looks pretty dicey from here. Are we sure about those scans?"

"It's a good question.", the captain joined the two.

"Things can change.", Alec replied, looking bad to the three, "It's been 600 years. SAM?"

"The energy from the phenomenon is damping our sensors.", the VI replied, "Planetary conditions are unknown."

The Pathfinder looked at the projection and the planet on the screen once again, before turning back to the platform. "We're marooned.", he said to everyone on the bridge, looking around, "Twenty thousand souls adrift at sea. And when the power runs out and stays out…", he started pointing at the projection and planet at the same time, both of them in line right behind him, "We need to know if that's safe harbor."

"And if it's not?", the captain asked, sounding worried.

As confident as before, Alec replied: "As Pathfinder, it will be my job to find an alternative. It's what we trained for. But if this goes well…", and he looked at the projection again, "…we're already home."

The Captain looked at him for a while. Finally she answered: "All right. Just make it quick."

Without hesitation the Pathfinder came back up, ordering Cora: "Harper, the rest of team should be awake by now. Have them spin up two shuttles. Planetfall in thirty."

Dutifully Cora replied: "Yes, Sir.", before giving Scott a meaningful glance and then following Alec, who left the bridge.

Scott remained on the bridge, still looking at the screen. "A stubborn one, isn't he?", the captain asked, having come closer to Ryder in the meantime.

Scott shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine.", he replied, "We may be related, but I still haven't figured him out."

"Just as long as he knows what he's doing.", the captain continued, "It's not like the cavalry's coming to save the day.", and then she turned away, ordering her staff: "I need an ETA on our sensor repairs. We're blind out here."

Scott turned back to look at the screen. He took a deep breath, right before his Omni-tool reacted. "Ryder, here?", he answered the call.

"Scott, where are you?", a female, and very familiar voice asked.

Scott's eyes got wide open. "Sara, are you awake already?", he asked her.

"Yeah, still a bit groggy though.", she replied via Intercom, "What happened?"

"I'll explain it to you.", Scott replied and turned around to leave the bridge, "I'll come over to you. Something big happened and you'll be really angry, that you didn't see it before me.", he added with a grin.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

Author's comment:

Well finally I started doing it. I thought about writing a "fixed" version of Mass Effect Andromeda for quite some time already. And right now I have the time and the creative potential I want to use, so I have done it.

Perhaps people who know the game will notice, that most of this chapter is copied from the game itself – that shouldn't surprise you. This Fan Fiction will do this quite heavily, because I want to change as little as possible. Except, of course, for minor changes thanks to the fact, that this is a story, not a game; except also for changes out of creative freedom; and except above all the "fixing" I will do in this fan fiction, changing some minor and major issues I had with the game itself. I have an idea where this should lead us, but not planned everything out yet.

One of these major issues I had you can see here, right at the end of this chapter: the Twin. I think Bioware Montreal wasted quite a potential with getting rid of the Twin right at the beginning of the game, only to add it at the end. May it be because they wanted to produce the game as cheaply as possible, were simply lazy or had major development problems during the five years of development so that they worked on this game effectively only a little bit more than a year – which, as a matter of fact, was the case, when you check out the internet for this – they still wasted this potential. So I want to reimagine the Twin-Part in this Fan Fiction. I hope you agree with me with this part and that I get it right. After all I am reimaginating a full game as big as Mass Effect Andromeda for the first time. ^^

Another thing I wanted to explain right away is customization. All the Ryders – the Twin Ryders direct and Ryder Senior indirect – had a customizable appearance in the actual game. I decided to deal with this by simply not describing the Ryders at all – except for being male and female. In the case of Alec Ryder I stick to not describe really many details. In this way every reader can imagine his or her own Ryder. Also I am using the default first names of the two. I hope this works for you.

Well when other explaining is needed, I'll come to it when I write about it. Apart from that I hoped you liked this chapter and want to review it – I would like to hear your opinion on this matter. ^^


	2. Prolog - Sara

**Prolog – Sara**

 _Message from Captain Dunn: Attention Hyperion personnel: …,_ Sara read, _After a 600-year voyage, the good news is we're exactly where we're supposed to be: We have arrived in the Heleus Cluster, Andromeda Galaxy, year 2819. All stasis medical personnel should report for duty immediately. Give the Pathfinder Mission team revival priority, and prep its members for field reconnaissance,_ she took a sip of her coffee, _Reports of an unusual celestial phenomenon in the cluster are being investigated. Updates to follow – Captain Dunn._

Sara put the pad down. She took another sip, before looking to the big screen in the Cryo Bay, where a woman was displaced in the middle. Like the real crew she was wearing the typical Initiative-uniform, which looked like a mix of military and civil clothes, with the dominant colors white, blue and black – like the Logo of the Initiative. She had short black hair, a firm look and had put her arms on her hips, while two further members of the Initiative, wearing armor suits, flanked her. From the screen her voice could being heard: "Hi, there. I'm Jien Garson, founder of the Andromeda Initiative.", she said not for the first time since Sara has woken up, "I'm here to welcome you to a whole new galaxy. The good news is, the hard part's over. We're here! If you have any questions now, just ask.", before disappearing and leaving a small menu behind. It gave Sara few choices: information about the other Arks beside the Hyperion – in total four others – their destination, information about Pathfinders, the current mission status and information about the Andromeda Initiative.

She chose not one of them.

 _The hard part is over, eh?,_ she thought and shook her head, _Doesn't look like this…_ before taking another sip.

"Sis.", she heard from behind and turned around to see her brother Scott entering the Cyro Bay. He wore a similar uniform to her, with white and blue as dominant colors, while the woman coming along with him, wore more black than white – _Lieutenant Harper, I think?,_ she tried to remember the team's list of personnel, which she read before starting this whole journey.

"Scott, what's going on?", she asked right ahead, before he could even start talking.

He started to scratch his cheek, while Harper stepped forward. "We don't have much time for longer explanations.", she answered and turned around halfway already, "Follow me, we have a mission. We'll explain on the way to the locker room."

And with that Cora started moving out of the Bay, while Scott followed. Sara reached him quickly, asking casually: "So? What's this celestial phenomenon I read about?"

He smirked. "Even after sleeping longer than me, you stay the the know-all, what?", he asked, "In short: just before reaching our destination, we crashed into it. We have no idea what it is, but it brought the Hyperion almost to its knees."

"Are you kidding me?", she asked astonished, "What could threaten a ship as big as the Hyperion?"

"Something bigger.", he answered simply, "Much bigger. Although it doesn't look much like a ship. The best guess of the bridge crew is that it looks like a big cloud moving through space."

"But dust clouds can't damage a ship.", she answered, looking curious.

"This one obviously can.", Cora replied leading the two, without looking back, "But finding out what this is, isn't priority right now."

"Then what is?", Sara asked confused.

"We reached Habitat 7.", Scott explained, "But it doesn't look like the new Earth all of us expected."

"The Pathfinder team should find out if it is a safe harbor or not.", Cora added, while they entered the tram, "All the people's lives onboard this ship are at stake."

"No pressure, hm?", Sara asked, while the tram doors closed. She took a moment to think, before looking towards her brother, adding with a smirk: "But you'll be second this time, Scott."

"Try me.", he answered grinning.

Sara picked up her ammo from the locker. She was wearing her armor suit already: like the uniforms of the Initiative a combination of blue, black and white, but still high-grade and really tight around the body – after all nobody wants to suffocate in the dangerous environment of space or unhabitable planets, right?

"Okay, I'll go ahead.", Scott said looking quite excited. He didn't even wait for an answer, while Sara looked at him leaving.

"Are all the Ryders adrenaline junkies?", Cora asked, still putting on her suit.

"I guess it's in our blood.", Sara replied thinking about this question, before starting to smirk and adding, "I was born a minute ahead of him. I never let him forget it."

"Ah that it was all about.", Cora replied grinning, "Always competing, hm?"

"But whoever wins, the other one always gets a good story afterwards.", Sara explained, remembering these times in the Milky Way, "Hope I get a good story down there…"

"I hope everyone of us does.", Cora answered a little bit more serious, "Bet the 'Good luck'-rock will help with that."

"The what?", Sara asked confused.

"It's an old superstition of your dad's.", Cora explained, "Still it never hurts thinking that luck is on our side."

"Right.", Sara agreed, before adding, "Then better touch it."

It was found right in the corner of the room: a simple, grey rock, as big as a dog, edged and found inside a box. While Sara approached it, Cora explained: "Your dad was mountain climbing back on Earth. It caught him from falling.", before adding a little bit more serious, "Way things are going today, we'll need any luck we can get."

"Yeah.", Sara agreed, before touching it. _It feels…_ she thought…. _like a rock._

"Let's go.", Cora said, not only talking to Sara, but also to the other remaining members of the Pathfinder-Team within the locker room: David Fisher, Lucas Greer and Dusty Kirkland. Together they went through the door, moving inside another quite empty corridor. When passing the door at the end of it, they entered a huge room, which ceiling was quite much above them – nothing unusual for a Hangar. This part of the Bay was empty in the first place with except the two Interceptors at the side and twos Shuttles waiting for takeoff – right into the emptiness of space, which could be seen to the right of the approaching crew members, beyond a barrier.

The other guys went ahead of the two women, so Cora found time for a little bit private talk: "So, just another boring day at the office, huh?", she said chuckling a little bit.

Sara looked at her, before answering in the same way: "Well, you know, I run into giant space cloud nebulas all the time. It'll be fine.", whereby the last sentence was spoken with exaggerated confidence.

"Keeps us on our toes.", Cora replied, sound a little bit absent, as if she was thinking about something, "I always wondered what it was like when explorers crossed the ocean. Nothing but stars and dead reckoning to guide them."

"And a map that said 'Here be dragons'", Sara added without much thinking.

"Well, if they made it, we can too.", Cora replied more confident than before, "And maybe see a dragon along the way."

"I'd prefer to eat lunch, not be lunch.", Sara replied with real concern in her voice, although she smirked as well.

"You're not a real explorer till you've got some scars.", Cora replied more serious than Sara would have expected, "Or bite marks.", she added.

"On that note…", Sara replied trying to loosen up the situation, "…I'd better get my gear in order."

Cora answered only with a smirk to that. But before the conversation could go on, she saw a dark-skinned, human man crouching down, while his hands held a box open. "Doctor Carlyle.", she said, stopping by him and at the same time letting Sara remember the doctor from the cryo bay, "With everything going on, I'd think the Ark needs you more than we do?", although the last part didn't sound as convinced as the first part.

"Pathfinder wants a medic on hand.", the doctor replied, closing the box and getting up slowly, before adding, sounding more emotional, "And if that is home down there, I'm happy to knock on the door."

"Yeah.", Sara replied instead of the other woman, while all of them moved closer to the shuttle, "We're just not sure what's on the other side of the door."

"No problem.", Carlyle answered immediately with a certain confidence and amusement, "If it has teeth, I brought the pliers. Yank'em out myself.", before getting down to lift the box from earlier and carrying it to the shuttle.

"Good luck with that.", Sara replied more to herself than to everyone else, while catching a look at Scott who stood beside a man with Rastas. Before she could go to these two, the Pathfinder appeared from inside the shuttle, announcing: "All right, team, button it up. We leave in five."

He stepped towards the two women, addressing Sara: "Heard what happened in the Cryo Bay. Everything alright?"

"Couldn't feel any better.", Sara announced, although she wouldn't say no to a little bit more acclimatization time.

"Sure?", Alec Ryder asked sounding skeptical, as if he would know what she was thinking, "We don't know what is down there – everyone needs to be as ready as possible."

"You don't need to worry about me.", Sara replied, a little bit sharper than wished. Both Ryders started to stare at each other, like being in a contest.

Cora stepped forward. "Sir.", she replied, stopping the contest, "We broke out the weapons as requested. Anything we should know about?"

Alec looked at her first, then back to Sara and finally all around himself, but only for a moment, before he answered: "Seemed prudent, given the situation.", he stepped back, towards the shuttle, before starting to look at the whole assembled team, "Okay team, listen up.", and when he got everyone's attention, he continued, "I chose each of you for the Pathfinder team, not just because you're talented and passionate. But because you're dreamers, like me.", whereby the last part was spoken with a certain emotion in his voice, "We dream of exploring the unknown, of finding the edge of the map – and then discovering what lies beyond.", he started to smile satisfied, "When people look back on this – and they will – they'll remember we didn't – give – up. We kept on dreaming.", his voice became more confident, "That our first, few faltering steps in Andromeda were the beginning of everything they know. We only get one chance to be first.", he started to sound a little bit more cautious in the end, before adding again more confident than before, "So let's make history."

 _That's an inspirational speech…_ Sara thought, while her father turned around and went back inside the shuttle. "Been waiting 600 years for this.", the man beside Scott murmured loud enough to hear, before going inside the shuttle as well, while punching Scott's shoulder lightly. The others didn't need to think about this for a long time, before going along. Cora entered the first shuttle as well, while some others went to the second shuttle. Sara followed her, before stopping few steps away from it to look at her brother entering the second shuttle. The Twins started grinning at each other at the same time, before stepping inside their corresponding shuttles – as well like stepping inside their new adventure.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

So this was the first Sara chapter. A little bit short, but in the end it will not be the last one. She will be, as Scott is, a regular POV-character I'll be using for this story. But this doesn't mean the Ryders are the only POV-characters – the others you will meet later on in the story. ^^ I hope you will like them.

As well like I hope that you liked this chapter and want to review it.


	3. Prolog - First Contact

**Prolog – First Contact**

"Ark Hyperion, this is Shuttle One.", the voice of the Pathfinder was heard via the Com of the shuttle, while it started its engines, "Switching to manual guidance."

"Shuttle Two, taking your lead.", Fisher sitting in the cockpit informed, while Scott started to feel the light pull when his shuttle left the Hangar.

"Good Luck, Pathfinder Team.", Captain Dunn replied in the Com, right before the shuttles passed through the barrier and entered the dark space.

But the first thing Scott saw wasn't space, but this dark, ominous-looking cloud surrounding the Hyperion and…it was moving. _What the hell is that…?,_ he asked himself not for the first time, while listening to the radio chatter in the background: "Turning to vector one-three-five.", Kirkland, their co-pilot, informed the other shuttle.

"Copy that.", the Pathfinder's answer followed, "We're on point."

"Wow, will you look at that?", the other member of Ryder's shuttle crew – the guy with the Rastas wearing his helmet now, like everyone else – commented with excitement in his voice.

"Whatever it is, it stopped the Hyperion in its tracks.", Scott replied, casting a short glance towards the other man.

"It appears to be an unstable mass of Dark Energy.", SAM joined the conversation, sounding like being part of the radio chatter.

"If you say so.", the other guy commented this analysis with a certain skepticism in his voice.

"Steer clear of it.", Scott's father ordered in the radio, while the shuttles started to move passed the cloud. Scott could see the moon of New Earth from the window of his shuttle, still hidden lightly behind the remaining shreds of the cloud. The shuttles changed their course to fly right beside it, probably aiming for the planet close-by.

"Getting some chop here.", Fisher commented in the Com, when a little bit shaking started to be felt throughout the shuttle.

"Gravity anomalies detected.", SAM reported.

"I'll see if I can even it out.", Kirkland replied, while the other shuttle appeared right in the middle of the window, approaching the planet parallel to Scott's one.

"My stomach would appreciate that.", Greer added into the radio, right at the moment, where the other shuttle increased its speed and passed Scott's shuttle. Few moments later Ryder saw the acceleration of his own shuttle thanks to the window.

"We're clear.", Kirkland added, while passing the moon, "Accelerating to cruising speed."

"Ryder, we didn't have a chance to meet back in the Milky Way.", the other guy onboard said towards Scott, "Name's Liam Kosta, security and response specialist."

"Good to meet you, Liam.", Scott replied politely, while course corrections of the shuttle were seen in the window.

"Hard to believe we're finally doing this.", Liam continued, still sounding astonished.

Scott grinned behind his helmet, before replying: "Sure beats reading the brochures."

"Beginning our deceleration.", Fisher informed in the Com, while the remaining parts of the cloud vanished from the window and the shuttle was changing course, obviously directed upwards, "Planet's dead ahead.", right before it flew downwards this and the first orange flares of the entering atmosphere were see in the window. Scott had done this countless times during his time in the Systems Alliance, but still felt excited about entering a completely new planet, untouched by any human.

The shuttle started to shake again. "Hang on, initiating atmospheric entry.", Kirkland reported in the radio.

"Here we go…", Liam commented that and probably was grinning, while saying this.

"Flight guidance is scrambled!", Fisher reported in the radio, sounding a little bit anxious.

"It'll pass.", Kirkland assured him.

"The controls are fighting me.", Fisher replied, while the flares became so strong, so that they glowed almost as bright as the sun. Scott and Liam needed to lift their hands to protect their eyes.

"Adjust approach vector three degrees to starboard.", SAM reported. Few moments later the flares died down and the view became clearer. Clouds – planetary clouds – were seen, as well like the other shuttle flying a little bit lower than Scott's. And in the back Ryder could see something, which resembled rocks – really big rocks, probably something like mountains.

"Holy…", Liam exclaimed after seeing a mountainous landscape appearing slowly in front of him. More and more rocky mountains, some flat, some peaked appeared, but nothing which would resemble life. _It looks like a barren world…_ Ryder thought seeing that.

"Shuttle Two, are you seeing this?", Cora asked in the radio.

"Copy that.", Scott replied, "Doesn't look like a golden world from here."

"Ionization levels are rising.", Kirkland reported from the cockpit.

"Stay on course to the landing zone.", the Pathfinder ordered, sounding as calm as always.

"Oxygen levels are below minimum of human requirements.", SAM reported in the background of the shuttle.

"Is this the right planet?", Fisher asked with reasonable doubt, because except for rocky mountains and smoky clouds nothing else was seen till now, "I thought we had this all worked out…", right before a lighting was seen flashing from one of the clouds.

"Keep it tight, Shuttle Two.", Alec Ryder ordered.

Then something unexpected appeared. "Uh, the mountains are floating…", Liam said the obvious aloud, while they passed floating rocks. All of them had different shapes and sizes, but guessing from the distance they could be as big as mountains or at least hills.

Right behind, after the shuttle passed the floating rocks, a different shape was seen quite a distance away. It looked like two more grey mountains at the first glance, but after lights appeared at their base, Scott realized that their shapes looked too straight to be natural. "Look!", Fisher commented after seeing the pyramid-like buildings as well, "Port side!"

"That _has_ to be advance engineering.", Sara commented, sounding astonished as well, while the lights became brighter and the shuttles came closer.

"Hyperion, this is the Pathfinder.", Alec Ryder started talking into the Com again, "We've got evidence of an alien civilization.", right before clouds started to hide the structures from the shuttles.

"Has anyone seen us?", Scott asked alarmed.

"What if they're not friendly?", Liam expressed the fear of everyone onboard.

"We stick to contact protocol:…", the Pathfinder replied, "…No use of deadly force unless hostile intent is clear.", while the other shuttle could be seen again, further below.

At the same time Scott's shuttle started to change course abruptly and one moment later the whole room was brightened by a close lightning. _Oh, oh…._ Scott thought, when the shuttle's lights went out and its movement looked much more chaotic than before. "Shit!", Fisher yelled, "Ionization just spiked-", before the com was interrupted.

Scott couldn't hear the following words said from the cockpit, needing to cling to something, while the shuttle started to spin around with huge force. But few moments later it became even worse, when the door – the one right in front of Scott and Liam – was pulled out with such a force, that Liam was thrown out as well.

"Liam!", Scott yelled, while the other guy was able to grab a part of the wall of the shuttle in time. The pull of the air pressure tried to force Scott out as well, but still he stretched out his free hand to save Liam. "Hang on!", he yelled in the moment, when another lightning flash blinded him, still being able to see how Liam's other hand grabbed the shuttle wall as well and he tried to pull himself inside again.

"Ryder!", Liam yelled, when the other shuttle door flied through the open door, trying to reach Scott's hand.

And one moment later it didn't matter anymore: an explosion threw both of them out of the shuttle, right into the open sky. Scott screamed in his helmet, while his body spun around and the remaining parts of the shuttle flew in every direction, right before falling down to the ground, burning brightly.

"Acceleration increasing.", SAM reported, while Scott started to regain a little bit of control of his body's movement – only to see that some of the floating rocks were coming closer each second.

"No kidding!", Scott replied with a panicking voice, when he saw the blue flashes emitted from the rocks, while he passed the first ones.

"Your jump-jet is malfunctioning.", SAM reported another crisis, while Scott was able to pass more rocks with light movements of his body and at one point risked to push himself off from one of the rocks to get away from another one he needed to pass.

"Get it working!", he ordered SAM, while seeing a lightning flashing from one rock to another, "Get it working!"

"Approaching terminal velocity.", SAM continued with the bad news, while Scott's breathing became faster, after he started seeing the ground coming closer and closer very quickly. "SAM!", he yelled full with panic in his voice, seeing the mountain ground only few meters away.

He started picturing himself smashed already, when he felt something pushing him upwards instead of downwards. He got a glimpse look at the fire coming from his jump-jet on the back of his suit, right before his helmet crashed against the closest part of the mountain. "Urgh!", he groaned, feeling the pain, moments before he started to fall down again, sliding and rolling along the surface of the edged mountain wall and even passing some kind of blue-grey bushes along the way.

"OW!", he exclaimed when finally hitting something like a ground, hearing something else at the same moment. He needed a moment to pull himself together, when he realized what he heard: _Was that glass?_ His body turned around on his back and he was right: the interior of the helmet started to flash in red lights and he could see a crack of the helmets glass in front of him, through which his oxygen left his suit and the planet's atmosphere entered it there for.

"Ah shit…", he muttered, touching the damage first, before his training kicked in like an instinct and he activated his Omni-tool, activating a program on it. Few moments later he lifted the arm with the tool up and held it above the crack, which started to vanish within the hot fuse of melding.

He took a deep breath when this work was done and let his head fall down on the ground again. _That was close…_ crossed his mind, while panting as if he had held his breath for minutes. He didn't know how long he kept on lying around like that, but it was the sound of thunder and lightning in the distance, which convinced him, that staying here wasn't the best idea.

He got up slowly, seeing the upper end of a plant, which looked like a yellow glowing curl. A quick look around affirmed him that there were many of this kind of plants, right beside the blue-grayish bushes. _At least something can live here…_ he thought with a certain hope, although his experience with the planet's atmosphere wasn't so assuring about possible human life on this planet, whose horizon consisted only of more mountains and flying rocks with flashes.

He took one final deep breath, before he looked down at his activating Omni-tool. "This is Ryder.", he said a little bit too quick into the Com, "Come in."

No answer followed.

"Hyperion?", he continued, starting to breath faster again, "SAM? Anyone there?", while seeing a much closer rock passing his ledge, floating upwards.

"Save your breath, Ryder.", Liam's voice surprised him. He started to look in the direction it has came from: the other man was running right towards him, explaining: "SAM's offline. Com-Link's trashed.", right before he stopped beside Ryder, needing to catch a breath, "I'm surprised we aren't, too."

Scott looked at him for a moment, before looking out at the horizon once again. "Did we really do that, or are we dead and don't know it?", he asked not so sure of himself.

Liam got up again, replying: "Well, we found hell.", he didn't sound as excited as in the shuttle anymore, "I can tell you that much."

Ryder stepped a little bit closer to the abrupt end of the ledge. "Yeah.", he agreed, "No way this is home.", while another lightning flashed in the distance and another one much closer.

"Looks like we gotta find some high ground.", Liam suggested, attracting Scott's attention, "See if anyone else is alive.", before turning around and running ahead, along a ledge route found at the side of the mountain, "Come on."

The path was edged, filled with more of the already familiar plants and rocks, as well like some rock structures and green-yellow plants, which were smaller than the first two. Scott could even see some kind of moss on the stone structures. He followed Liam, while the other guy started asking: "Ryder, how's your survival training?", sounding more light-hearted than before, although it sounded more like an act than real.

"I've seen my share of troubles.", Ryder replied in the same way, "Nothing crazy, but…"

"Well, crazy just found us.", Liam added a little bit more grimmer sounding, "Those rocks out there _are_ floating."

"Terra Incognita.", Scott agreed, while they reached some kind of tunnel, progressing along the edge of the mountain as well.

"Some of these plants look like tentacles.", Liam mentioned, while passing more of this curly yellow plants, before adding, "Is the water here even water?"

Scott stretched out his arm with the activated Omni-tool and scanned the plant, but the shown data was quite insufficient. _Well, without SAM, it's hard to say exactly what this is,_ he thought checking the sketchy analysis, _It's sort of a plant, and maybe dead, but maybe not._

They passed some debris and damaged containers looking a lot like their lost shuttle, while passing through the tunnel. They found even a Quantum Entanglement Communicator on the way. "There is our Com Device.", Liam pointed out, while Scott activated his tool once again to scan it. "Damaged in the crash.", he explained reading the data, "No fixing this."

"But it explains why we lost our SAM connection.", Liam suggested and Scott could only nod. They moved on and found a blue glowing mushroom colony growing out of the ground, whereby some of them became almost as tall as Ryder. He scanned them and they left the tunnel, although the path ahead was surrounded by the mountain wall on the left side, a cliff with many big, floating rocks on the right side. Scott saw also that some of the yellow glowing plants were growing further up at some ledges of the mountain, in the middle of stone without earth.

"The structures we saw on the way in…", Liam started another question, without stopping, "Who could survive in a place like this?"

Scott shrugged. "Not sure we want to find out.", he pointed out, while another flash was seen moving from one of the rocks to another.

"Storms here don't seem natural.", Liam mentioned, sounding a little bit frustrated with the circumstances.

"Oh, and safety tip:…", Scott remembered after hearing that, "Don't breathe the air. Found that out the hard way."

"Got it.", Liam replied, sighing afterwards.

Few Minutes later another wall started to rise at the right side as well, but not without the obligatory empty spot for falling down the cliff from time to time. They also found further burning debris and boxes from their shuttle, letting their hope finding other survivors sink. "You think that energy cloud we saw could cause all this?", Liam asked, sounding rather curious than frustrated this time, but also probably tried only to distract himself from these findings.

Scott thought about the answer for a moment. "SAM said it's dark energy, but that's in space.", he replied finally.

"Yeah.", Liam agreed, before adding quite oblivious, "Hell of a cloud."

"A cloud that makes boulders float.", Scott commented, when seeing such a boulder float right in the front of them, at the end of their view range. They passed further blue mushrooms, while the wall to the right side disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"Uh, what the hell is this?", Liam exclaimed, when suddenly lightning struck into the ground right ahead of them, forcing them to stop.

Ryder analyzed it and saw that there were breaks in between the flashes, but not very long ones. "Come on.", he said, "We gotta get through it!", before going ahead, sprinting.

"This is crazy!", Liam commented this suggestion, but still followed Scott.

"Welcome to Habitat 7.", Scott replied with a smile, while trying to avoid spots, where the lightning didn't hit yet, "Keep moving!" He barely noticed how the electricity spread on the ground and forced each lying stone to float.

"Shit, that was close!", Liam shouted from behind, when they finally reached another tunnel, but this time much bigger, as well like darker. The blue mushrooms, spread around in the whole tunnel, offered a light source for the two. "Is this for real?", Liam added, after they stopped for a moment inside the tunnel, "What the hell's going on with this place?"

"Planet's trying to murder us.", Scott replied gasping, but also smirking.

"It can try.", the other man answered, more determined than before. They moved on, going through the tunnel, which had one or two curves, but ultimately leading outside again. "How's your gun?", Liam asked suddenly, when they passed a puddle in between many of the blue mushrooms, "Might want to see if it's working.", he looked around for a moment, "Take a shot at the fuel cell.", he pointed at another debris of the shuttle close by, "It's busted anyway."

Scott stopped few meters away from it and drew his M-3 Predator-Pistol. He aimed at the cell, lying on a higher ground than he was and pulled the trigger without hesitation – the cell rolled away from the impact. "I'd say it's working.", he commented the result, before holstering his weapon again.

Soon after they left the tunnel, so that the view on the right side was free again. "Look.", Ryder said, when he saw something moving through the sky out there, "Something flying around in the sky." This time it didn't look like rock, but rather like…

"Dragons.", Liam commented the view, "Real live dragons, wow…Cora will love it."

They gazed at the flying creatures for few more moments, before turning around and moving on. The path became slimmer here, so that the edge was much closer than before. Scott tried to be more cautious about the spots he stepped on.

"There!", Liam shouted, when a cliff appeared at the end of their path at the horizon, "We get up that cliff, we can find high ground. Come on!", and one moment later he accelerated, passing Scott.

"Not sure, we want to be the tallest thing around here.", Ryder replied still being more cautious than the other guy, but still following him upwards along the angular path.

They passed another, bigger puddle than before, while Liam reported: "I think I can see a path up.", and when reaching a stone forcing them to climb higher, "We'll use the jump-jets if we have to."

"Into the breach…", Scott joked, following him.

"Think I'd rather fall than get hit by lightning.", Liam replied more serious.

Scott grinned again. "Give it a minute – we can probably do both.", while he saw a shadow being cast on the wall to his left, so that he looked right. He was able to see one of the dragons flying right through the planet's sun, before disappearing behind another rock wall to his right. "More glowing mushrooms.", Liam commented, when this tunnel led them deeper into the mountain than the earlier ones, while the mushrooms looked much bigger than the last ones – but not much taller.

"Are they making that noise?", Liam added, asking, because the two started to hear an odd noise, which remembered drilling.

"No.", Scott disagreed, sounding curious, while activating his Omni-tool and starting to scan the wall, "Coming from inside the mountain.", he didn't need long to find some kind of conduit within the rock, "Detecting a lot of energy. Can't make heads or tails of it, but it's powerful.", whereby his scanner showed also a 'DANGER!'-Logo.

They moved on, climbing across further rocks and one point even a short wall ahead of them. "How'd my dad find you?", Scott asked, trying to distract himself from the effort of climbing.

"I was a cop.", Liam answered from below, "Then crisis response."

"Yeah?", Scott sounded surprised.

"Tell you over a beer sometime.", Liam finished this topic, wanting to focus on climbing rather than on talking. One of the walls was even so high, that they needed to use their jump-jets – _much easier than climbing,_ Scott thought satisfied about the speed of getting up in this way, _Still need to look out for fuel – not sure, when we'll be able to fill it up again._ Still when they reached a spot, where their path was broken away, leaving a big gap in the middle, they were forced to use their jets to jump across it, before climbing another cliff up. The remaining path ended up being a collection of lower and higher ground, too high and dangerous for simple climbing, so they used their jets to go up and down.

"Think I see the top.", Scott replied breathing harder than before. He jumped up with his jet to grab the ledge of the last cliff, before pulling himself up. He got on his feet and looked ahead, but before he could see something for real, Liam poked from below: "Mind making some room?"

Scott bowed down, grabbed the other guys arm and pulled him up, before he thanked him for that. Then both of them turned around and Liam was the first one to speak again: "What…the hell is that?"

In the far horizon they could see a structure, looking like a metal parallelepiped rising up higher than the surrounding mountains. But the more frightening thing was a storm, coming out of the top of this thing. It looked like a whirlwind, in various degrees of blue and black, spreading at the sky to all directions, while emitting impulses from time to time, which were felt even so far away from it.

"Don't know.", Scott answered the question looking at this with determined eyes, "But it's our job to figure it out."

"That sounds like your old man talking.", Liam realized, sounding a little bit amused, before bumping his fist lightly into Ryder's chest.

"He was right.", Scott jumped on it, "Something went wrong here. We have to find out what."

"Woh.", Liam replied, sounding surprised, "One thing at a time.", before going on and reaching the end of their elevated position. "Ryder…", he still said, but both of them saw what was there: within some kind of hollow the remaining part of their shuttle's cockpit was seen, burning here and there. But much more important was what lied in front of it, behind some boxes. "It's Fisher.", Liam recognized the suit and already went forward.

Scott saw more. "Wait…", he hissed and pushed Liam down, while crouching down as well and pointing with his finger forward, "Look!"

A creature pulled a box away. It was bipedal, wearing a black leather – or at least it looked like leather – garment, which left some spots on hips and arms free. Beneath it was found a white, armored looking skin, which covered also major parts of the head, giving it an edged outlook. Only the face was dark grey, almost black like the sclera of its eyes, while the iris was green. Worse was that within its gloved hands was obviously something like a rifle, although it looked quite alien for the two humans.

Another creature appeared one moment later, kicking another box away, while the two realized, that Fisher was hiding behind the boxes. Although these two didn't look very friendly, Liam turned towards Ryder, asking: "What was first contact protocol again?", whispering the question.

"No deadly force unless fired upon.", Scott reminded him, casting a short glance back to Fisher – he still was hiding successfully.

"Yeah, said no one in the field ever.", Liam replied sarcastically, while shaking his head, "How do we handle it?"

Scott thought about the answer. "Take it easy.", he replied assuring, "We only get one shot at 'hello' with these guys."

"Yeah, and Fisher gets shot in the head if we're wrong.", Liam reminded him, leaving a bad aftertaste in his mouth.

Scott nodded, but still wanted to pull it through. He stood up, saying: "Nice and easy – we only go hot, if we have to.", while moving forward slowly.

"Don't think they've spotted us yet.", Liam looked back forward, before added more anxious, "Shit – they see Fisher!"

The two hear that these creatures say something, but have no idea what – their translators didn't work obviously. "I, I, I don't understand.", Fisher replied with panic in his voice, obviously having the same problem.

They continued to talk to him, while Liam asked: "Well, what's the play?", and adding after hearing Fisher beg and cough and the creature screaming, "Ryder, we need to get down there."

The other alien yelled: "Niad shurid!", after spotting them and coming closer, looking tensed up.

Ryder stepped closer, while the distance was still quite big. "We don't understand you.", he explained, trying to sound diplomatically, while the begging of Fisher became louder and more scared, "We're not here to fight! That man's with us!"

"Niad shurid!", the alien repeated sounding stressed out, but also as if this was an order.

"Doesn't sound friendly…", Liam commented these words, sounding stressed out as well slowly.

Then they heard Fisher gasping and screaming. One look over there told everything: the other alien was hitting him with the butt of his rifle, not really restrained, but rather with force and anger – the impacts didn't sound promising.

 _Shit!_ , Scott thought, pulling his pistol out and running to the closest rock for cover, while ordering: "Weapons up!" He heard shots fired, before looking over the rock to aim. He shot at the one alien who hasn't found cover yet, hitting it in the back, before his friend could help him. Ryder quickly hid behind the rock again, when he started to fire at him, before hearing a beeping noise. He looked up and still saw when a grenade flew across the sky, right to the hostile alien – only to explode one moment later.

Scott saw how the alien went down in this way. "Okay…it's over.", he said into the radio, while standing up. Together they quickly ran towards the hurt crewmember, who held his helmet – luckily it wasn't broken like Ryder's was earlier.

"So much for making peace with the locals.", Fisher responded, while Liam kneeled down to him and Ryder looked around for more hostile aliens, "Thanks for jumping in."

Scott's face looked grim. "I wish I didn't have to.", he explained, "The first aliens we meet, and we try to kill each other? That wasn't the plan."

"Then we need a new one.", Liam stated simply, before adding: "At least we know what's what. The brochures were light on aliens who want to shoot your head off."

Ryder sighed, before Fisher added: "We still don't even know what they wanted." Scott kneeled down to him, while Liam stood up, and activated his Omni-tool to scan his hurt comrade.

"The way they treated you?", Liam responded, "Blood samples, I'd say. Lots of them.", sounding quite serious.

Scott looked up to him. "Who says we'd even understand?", he asked both of them, "Or they'd understand us? It's a new galaxy.", he stood up again, "I guess it's too much to expect they'll play by Milky Way rules."

Liam shouted, while shaking his head: "They broke the rules in any galaxy.", glaring fiercely at one of the corpses.

"But why go after us like that?", Fisher asked the legitimate question.

"Only thing I know for sure, their guns hit just as hard as ours.", Liam responded, before looking around for a moment and turning around to Fisher again, "Where are the others?"

"Gone.", he replied, "Kirkland and Greer went looking for help.",

Scott started to explain his analysis: "It's seems your leg is broken…", he took a breath, "Can you move?", and stood up and offered him a hand. Fisher grabbed it and Scott tried to pull him up, only resulting the other guy's screaming.

"You can't move", Ryder concluded, while his face said: 'Damn it'.

"Didn't even know it was broken.", Fisher replied, shaking his head, "You guys push ahead and look for the others."

"You sure?", Scott asked very unsure.

"Yeah. Just find us a ride out of here.", the sitting team member said, before adding, "And take a few more of them out while you're at it."

Scott nodded, but didn't leave him yet. He looked around some of the broken stuff from the shuttle and found what he was looking for. He handed Fisher the pistol, telling him: "Hope it will be enough for keeping you safe here."

"I hope so, too.", Fisher agreed, before adding, "Good luck you two."

Scott was unhappy with this decision, but he knew he couldn't go alone out there with hostile aliens around. He went forward, while Liam followed him. Few steps away from Fisher the following man said: "I hope the other team's okay."

"We'll find them.", Scott replied in an assuring way, while looking up from the hollow, "But we might want to scout around first."

"You're the Recon Specialist – point the way.", Liam replied, letting Scott sigh first. He looked up even further, looking right at the alien structure at the horizon. _Hope we don't find something we don't want to find,_ he thought, before moving out.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

Well, that took some doing, but the first Ryder is on the planet. I think the most alien planet of the whole original game. But don't worry, I thought about adding some of my own to make the game a little bit more interesting than the usual desert, snow or a traditional highlands styled planets. Still you'll need to wait for them – the Prolog isn't done yet. ^^

I hope you liked this chapter and want to review it.


	4. Prolog - New Earth

**Prolog – New Earth**

"Kal sarhos!", a voice yelled on the other side of the hill, found in between mountain walls.

"Hear that?", Cora asked unsure. Sara nodded, before crouching down and moving on, while further voices were started to be heard: "Tolerad!", sounding quite unfriendly.

The two women passed the hill and in front of them a giant structure appeared, out of dark material, looking metallic. It looked like a church rising along the mountains walls, which surrounded it. At the bottom of it, right in the middle, blue-white lights were shining, letting this part of the structure look awfully close to a hexagonal, closed gate.

"Duheth!" , another of the unfriendly voices shouted, directing Sara's attention towards the hollow below the alien structure.

"Gosad!", some of the tree white aliens shouted, wearing a dark battle dress and rifles.

"Is that Kirkland?", Cora asked, reaching Ryder and pointing at another person among the three aliens, obviously being one male human in Initiative-armor.

"Shurid hesh!", one of the aliens yelled at him, "Lutod nyro!"

"Please!", the man replied, sounding afraid, "I surrender!"

"Lutod nyro!", the alien repeated himself, while the two women reached some smaller structures, trapezoid looking and ideal for cover.

"Our translators don't seem to work.", Cora realized, while Kirkland repeated himself as well, but this time louder and more determined: "I said I surrender!"

Those were his last words: both women could hear a shooting noise and see an orange light leaving the rifle, hitting the man, who fell down instantly.

"They shot him!", Cora replied, shocked by what she saw, but a little bit too loud – the aliens noticed them and turned around, rifles risen.

"Cover!", Sara yelled, hiding behind the closest of the trapezoid structures, while pulling out her pistol. Cora did the same, while the aliens seemed to retreat moving backwards, still shooting the whole way – they looked around for cover as well, but there was none. The two women reacted quickly: still hiding most of their bodies behind the structures, they aimed and fired at the aliens. Their shields stopped most of the hostile energy-based fire, while two of them went down, being hit. The third one was able to reach a structure further backwards for cover, in time.

"I count one left to go!", Cora shouted, while moving from one structure to another to get closer to his cover. Sara started doing the same, encircling the enemy effectively in this way. While the alien focused on Cora, Sara used her advantage: she jumped with her jump-jet on the back above the structures, seeing her enemy clear as day and firing – he didn't even stand a chance.

After that she hid behind another structure, realizing that she breathed harder than before, while Cora looked around with her weapon at the ready. "I can't believe we're doing this.", Sara said into the radio, right before Cora informed her: "That was the last of them."

Both women left their cover, but still looked around, ready for more. They reached the body of Kirkland and Sara kneeled down to him, using the Omni-tool to scan the body. "Did he made it?", Cora asked worried.

The results were definite. "No vital signs.", Sara informed her partner, "Just shot him in cold blood."

"He was trying to surrender.", Cora replied, shaking her helmed head, "Why kill him?"

Sara's mien became grim, when the obvious answer hit her. "Would we treat them any different if they showed up on Earth, armed to teeth?", she asked turning her head towards the corpse.

Cora's answer sounded frustrated, realizing the truth: "Probably not."

Sara nodded and got up. "Peace isn't going to be an option here.", she realized with a sad voice, "We'll come back for his body once we find the others."

That was the first one, they found and sadly dead. Their shuttle was shaken down by the storm and lightning as bad as the other one, but theirs wasn't hit by one of them. Sara has seen how his shuttle went down, burning to the crisp, while some figures looking awfully like humans fell down from it. She had screamed his name during that, but they weren't able to do anything.

Their shuttle needed to land not far from here as well to assess the damage. Her father has staid calm during all that, has given orders to repair the shuttle, while taking Cora and Sara with him. He would scout the structures, trying to find out what they had to do with what was happening to the planet, while she and Cora were tasked with finding survivors of both shuttles. Until now she had hope that they would find everyone alive and unharmed – these hostile aliens weren't improving their situation at all.

"Let's scan these guys.", Cora suggested and pointed at one of the alien corpses, "Your dad and SAM will want to have the data later on for sure.", before leaving her behind a little bit to contact the shuttle crew, warning them about the hostile alien presence on this planet.

Sara nodded, but looked up first, to this church-like structure. It looked as alien as it could be: beside the dark color, green glowing lines were seen drawn along its surface. She thought she could find a pattern of them, but they were so weird and confusing, that she couldn't find any sense of it – still she scanned the structure. "I've seen Prothean artifacts in my time, but nothing quite like this.", she said, while checking the incoming data, "It's at least three or four centuries old."

"The Arks left 600 years ago, right?", Cora asked, curious as well.

"Yeah.", Sara nodded, while moving on, "Our long-range scans wouldn't have shown this.", and more considering, "These structures…that tower…maybe none of it was here when we left the Milky Way.", before adding in her mind, _Hopefully SAM will be able to do more with this data...,_ before going to one of the corpses, lying down on its stomach. Her Omni-tool scanned it as well, while she murmured more to herself than everyone else: "Well, I don't have SAM here, but I can try to make sense of it.", checking the given data, "They're DNA-based. And their armor reads as some kind of bone, but the genetics are all over the map."

"Huh.", Cora replied surprised, "I guess life took a different turn here, hm?", while Sara scanned the other bodies as well to create a database for later on.

Afterwards they checked out the weaponry of the aliens, but they seemed to have been broken during the fight. So Sara took instead the M-8 Avenger-assault rifle of Kirkland to extend her own weaponry. She wasn't such a big front fighter like her brother – actually she preferred a sniper – but it would do for now, till they were able to get better equipment. They moved on, seeing the big alien structure with the storm at the horizon, while the ground stopped at their right side. One short glance down the cliff showed, that it lead very far down – _Not an experience I want to have…_ Sara hoped in secret. Another mountain wall wasn't the only thing to their left, but also smaller scaled versions of the churchlike alien structure, with a bright light in their middle, working like a lamp in the shadowed parts of this terrain.

Suddenly they heard something. _Was that a growl?_ , Sara asked herself with wide open eyes.

"You hear that?", Cora asked, sounding a little bit more hectic, while Sara immediately pulled out her rifle.

"I wish I didn't.", she replied trying to raise her weapon, when she saw it: it was a creature, running on four legs and looking awfully similar to a dog-version of the aliens before; but the worst part was, that part of its skin were not visible, as if it would hide behind a Tactical Cloak, making it invisible.

"What is this thing?!", Cora shouted, while starting to shoot, but the hound-like creature hid within its invisibility-cloak, before she could aim properly. Few seconds later it reappeared, jumping straight at Sara, who allowed her body to fall backwards after being surprised. This probably saved her life, because the creature jumped right over the human woman, who could see its jaws trying to catch her.

She landed on her back, but quickly turned around on her belly, looking upwards, where the creature landed close by. It turned around and charged at her again, but this time the fire of Cora hit the beast and Sara realized that her rifle was aiming at the creature as well. Without further thinking she fired as well and to her relief, the creature died on the spot.

Sara needed a while to get up, but did it finally. She moved closer to the creature's body, rifle still at the ready, aiming at it. Its yap was even bigger now that she was so close to it – big enough to devour a big junk of her with one bite. "I think it wanted to eat us.", she said still breathing hard.

"Okaaaay…", Cora replied, coming closer as well, "But now it is dead…or not?"

"Whatever 'it' was.", Sara answered simply, regaining her composure.

"How'd it cloak like that?", Cora asked now rather curious, while kicking the head lightly – yep, it was dead.

Sara put her rifle back, contracting it before it was reattached on her back. A moment later she opened her Omni-tool and scanned the creature. "It's organic.", she read the data aloud, "No sign of technology."

Cora's first reaction was: "Wow….", before her second one was a little bit less confident, "So the cloaking is…biological?"

"Yeah.", Sara could only agree, "Weird."

"Weird indeed.", Cora nodded, before turning away from the corpse, "Come on, let's move. Our mission isn't over yet."

They moved the cliff up, before its path lead downwards again. Sara looked across the cliff, right at the pit, seeing hexagonal pillars rising from the deep darkness of it. Their material looked like the one from the church and blue shining lines were found along their edges. Afterwards they reached a hexagonal platform, dug into the earth with most of its edge. It indeed looked alien, but not black, but rather green-yellow-grayish, as well like some of the containers found it – _It resembles these Alien Guys…_ Sara thought scanning some of them.

Then they reached a dead end. The path didn't continue after that and the only way on, was into the pit – where some of these hexagonal pillars were gathered only few meters away. "What do you suppose is down there?", Sara asked, while an idea formed in her head.

"Eh…", Cora replied first, before adding a little bit joking, but also sounding confused, "New and painful ways to die?"

Sara looked at her. "Maybe we could jump-jet our way across.", she said and did it right away. Her jump-jet ignited and she jumped high into the air, before maneuvering her body across the pit right at the pillar assembly. Cora needed a moment to follow her, but in the end, she did. When she landed, both of them heard some kind of vibration. "Is that sound coming from below?", Cora asked confused, looking around.

"Um…", Sara replied first, not having a clue at all, "Alien gods of underworld maybe?", before turning around to the other side of the pillar assembly.

"Ha, ha…", Cora replied following her to the edge, "Very funny."

Sara jumped across the next gap, landing further below than earlier. Cora followed almost immediately, so she could tell her the assumption, which crossed her mind: "I think it's machinery. The vibration is similar at least."

Cora looked back. "The scale of this…", she murmured too loud, with a certain awe in her voice, "Who built it?"

"Alien gods…", Sara replied joking again, before moving on. They passed another of these greyer hexagonal platforms, before moving across a stone path again. They looked up, when they heard another impulse building up at the blue whirlwind, which looked closer now than earlier. After leaving the pit behind, they entered a small valley, within the mountain's shadow. The blue-grayish bushes they've seen the whole way became real trees here.

"Ryder.", Cora said warningly, "more of those aliens ahead.", before hiding beside a rock cover close by. The aliens had occupied the whole valley, having built even some kind of artificial cover in shape of greenish barriers, as well like left behind boxes. They seemed to talk, being occupied.

"Talking?", Sara asked, not believing that the answer would end up positive.

Cora shook her head. "Not as long they identify us as threat.", she explained, "Let's use the diversion for sneaking closer."

Both of them drew their rifles, lifting them for the fight. The plan was to sneak as close to the enemy as possible, encircling it during that and then shooting him down. This plan stopped working the first moment the two moved down into the valley and one of the creatures from earlier appeared from nowhere. It surprised Cora, who was moving ahead, and jumped at her, pushing her down, but Sara kept her composure and started firing. The beast fell quickly, but the result was: "They've seen us!", she shouted to Cora getting up.

This time there were four of the aliens, spreading out to hide behind their cover. Cora got on her feet quickly and started moving forward behind the next cover, while Sara did the same. Fire was seen and heard down from the valley, but either the shields held or the enemies missed. During one break of fire, Cora appeared behind her cover and threw a grenade at the enemy's position. They reacted as wished: they left their cover quickly, giving enough opportunity to shoot them down. Cora hit two, Sara one, but all of them fell after getting hit several times.

Sara discharged a thermal clip, because it has overheated and put another one inside quickly, while the remaining enemy ran further backwards, obviously looking for escape. "We can't let him go!", Cora shouted, while following him and firing to cut him off from his escape route, "Don't know how many of these guys are here, but I don't want them flooding this valley with us inside!"

Sara put the rifle on the rocky ground of her cover and aimed, closing her left eye. He ran, firing back here and there to stop Cora from advancing, but this didn't bother Ryder. Her breathing slowed down and right when he was running upwards, out of the valley, she fired a short barrage so the recoil wouldn't destroy her aim – she hit him right in the back. She fired again, and again, till the stumbling enemy fell on his stomach and didn't move anymore.

"That did it.", Cora reported via radio, while stopping and turning around to her, "You're pretty good at this, Ryder."

She started standing upright, while lowering her rifle and moving down into the valley. "I was with a team that dug up Prothean artifacts.", she informed the other woman, remembering this life at the edge of civilization pretty good. The two women met in the middle of the valley, surrounded by the artificial barriers, boxes and lamps, all in this yellowish green color like the platforms from earlier. "I wonder what these guys were doing here.", she asked aloud.

"Crash of some kind.", Cora replied, looking around and pointing at a crashed looking shuttle at the deepest part of the valley, "It's not one of our ships.", which was easy to guess: it's design reminded on all the other stuff lying around here, instead of Initiative shuttles.

They moved closer to the crashing site, finding more and more boxes. Sara opened one of them and something colorful was found inside. "It's food…", she declared, not liking the look of it at all, before adding less confident, "I think…"

"Can't be local.", Cora replied, opening another of such boxes, "Not growing anything on this planet."

An idea crossed Sara's mind. "So maybe they're bringing it in from off-world?", she suggested not sure.

Cora looked at her and her voice didn't sound happy at all: "More of them in the cluster? Not loving that AT ALL."

Sara nodded to that, while the two started leaving the valley upwards. _When they are importing food…are they from this planet?,_ she asked herself mentally, while scanning some of the technological looking stuff on the way. They met even some tech looking like tanks or pipelines, fabricatied in the same way like the rest of the green alien stuff. But when they moved further up, they found also another structure, looking like the pillars or the church – it seemed to be a bridge, built for a path above their heads and ending at the mountain's wall on the left. It was located at the path they moved along, right beside another big pit to their right, even bigger than the last one.

Luckily, they didn't have any further encounter with these hostile aliens. They moved on few minutes, undisturbed, when they saw something new at the horizon: in between two mountain walls was a structure, looking like the hostile alien stuff but much bigger than that. A big opening was found at the front, few meters upwards, looking awfully close to a window.

Suddenly several flashes hit the ground in front of it, in a regular matter, brightening the scenery full with boxes, edges, yellow and mushroom plants. "This place is taking a beating from the storms.", Sara realized, when some of the flashes hit the building as well.

"Along with everything else on the planet.", Cora replied in a matter-of-fact voice. They passed more technological gadgets of the hostile aliens and Sara scanned them. "Looks like it's a broken lightning rod.", she interpreted the data.

"Could explain why the building's damaged.", Cora added, "Storms hammered the place.", before moving on, closer to the window few meters above them. They reached a small ramp, seemingly leading up into the structure and followed it. The wall of the structure was not far away, additionally to a partially opened door, leading inside the darkness of the lightless interior of the structure. Both women activated the flashlights installed on the breast plate of their corresponding suits, before entering the ominous looking space.

"Well…", Cora began looking around, the rifle back in her hands, "Let's hope this is no one's home."

"Doesn't' look like a home at all.", Sara replied, putting her right hand on the grip of her pistol. She saw boxes lingering around everywhere, not comfortable looking seats, panel desks or panels at the wall for some kind of technology – although their power seemed to have been deactivated – and everywhere on the ground cables, crisscrossing without a system throughout the whole room, while here and there also huge pipelines were found on the ceiling or ground as well. All of it had the same alien design and color like the outlook of this building – _Creepy…_ she thought.

They passed into the next room through a frame without door, looking around in this longish looking room. "No one's living her at least.", Cora commented looking around with her rifle at the ready.

"So what's it for then?", Sara asked curiously, looking around rather fascinated than cautious. They found themselves on the elevated part of the room, where a ramp led downwards.

"Doesn't look like the other structures we've seen.", Cora replied, "Different design.", looking at a closed double-door at the right side, "Perhaps there is a way to switch the lights on?"

They moved the ramp down, but this part of the room looked like a storage place, fuller with boxes than earlier rooms. Another ramp led upwards again, further to the right of the room and the two women followed it. First they found another of these desk panels, looking like for a receptionist, before Sara noticed something behind it, attached to the wall. It looked like a small pod of the same design like everything else here. She instantly activated her Omni-tool and scanned it. "Huh…", she said checking the incoming data, but not able to make head or tail out of it, "Who knows…Let's call it a 'weird alien machine'."

They entered another room to their left. It was filled with more technological looking stuff than the rooms earlier, which looked even creepier than before and at its left side a long window was found, so one could look into the storage part of the earlier room. "What's all this about?", Cora asked becoming curious now as well.

They reached another panel on which something like an alien pad was found. Sara used her Omni-tool to hack into it and it started an Audio Log: "Zev gosad! Surnahd zot."

She shook her head. _Same language as those aliens…,_ she considered, _Wonder what he's saying?,_ before checking further of the devices, but either they didn't react to her or they had no power at all, despite some of them having small lights at its exterior. Finally she stepped to the biggest part of equipment in the middle of the room, which also had few smaller cables attached to it. She activated her Omni-tool once again, typing herself through the confusing incoming data – and she did something: the odd looking device started to emit machine-like noises.

"What are you doing, Ryder?", Cora asked looking at it anxiously. The noise was becoming louder, as if it would boot or prepare itself to explode.

"Oh shit…", Sara muttered stepping backwards, but being not able to look away from the device.

"That can't be good.", Cora commented with stressed out sounding voice, while stepping backwards as well. The noise became louder and louder and when it reached its peak, Sara closed her eyes, awaiting the explosion.

But nothing happened.

At least nothing without looking at it first. Sara opened her eyes slowly and looked around, while the lights of the whole room started to be switched on. "Oh.", Cora exclaimed, much less worried.

"So the weird alien machine is a generator.", Sara concluded, stepping closer to it again. With the energy back online Sara tried the other devices in the room, but either they had odd reactions to her poking, or their currents overloaded, being damaged obviously.

"Let's go.", Cora said finally, "Nobody of our team is here and I don't think we'll find out more about these aliens right now.", before going ahead. Sara followed her, going the same way back across the ramps. They wanted to leave the building, when…

"Hey, that door opened.", Cora pointed out, looking at the second door of this room. Sara nodded and went ahead, while the other woman followed her, rifle at the ready. This room looked different than the earlier ones, like being built to fit another structure at the end of it: another of these gates, which they had seen at the church structure. Also many stones were lying around, like being dug out, as well like some boxes looking with the same design like the church's gate and having geometric shapes.

"Some kind of research lab?", Sara suggested, looking around. She found another pad on a strange looking table close by and activated the Audio Log of it with her Omni-tool: "Keng zhef. Rol no tod surhanad. Jhan lurok."

"Not exactly poetry, isn't it?", Cora joked, after listening to the log. They moved down the ramp leading to the gate and started to hear some kind of noise, "You hear that?", Cora added, listening to the vibration coming from the gate.

Sara was more interested in the devices found at the gate. "Looks like they were trying to tunnel in.", she guessed, when suddenly a figure rose right in front of them: it had two legs, a flattened body and some kind of antennas and didn't look like a living, breathing creature at all. It turned around to them and instantly started firing from its red shining eye-light in the middle of its body.

"Shit…", Sara exclaimed, being saved by her shield, while grabbing her pistol. Cora has started to fire back already, hitting the machine, which needed to stop firing thanks to this, but still tried to get behind a rock for cover. Sara joined her and together they brought the machine down – it collapsed literally, right in front of their eyes.

They needed a moment, looking at the destroyed machine. "So now killer robots, too?", Cora asked jokingly, "This planet becomes better and better."

Sara looked at her, grinning. "The Geth back home would love this place.", she said and both of them chuckled for a while. Then they moved closer to the gate, seeing further of the destroyed robots, but also something surprising: one of the aliens, dead as well. "They don't seem to be friends.", Cora commented on the fact that she found another corpse.

"Yeah seems so.", Sara agreed, looking to the gate, whose vibration has become quite loud so close, "These aliens seem to be interested in the technology found on this planet."

"They don't look like the archaeologist type for me.", Cora commented that, while they turned around and moved back.

"Only bloodthirsty archaeologist, if at all.", Sara agreed, while they left the room and the building now as well, "Weather's still crappy.", she added, when getting outside.

"SOS on frequency 1543.", they heard a weak noise in the radio suddenly, accompanied by static, "Anyone there?"

"Harper and Ryder here, we read you!", Cora replied, "What's going on?"

"We are getting surrounded!", the voice, which can be identified as Hayes, replied, "It's these alien guys you described."

"Shit…", Cora's first reaction was, "Stay put and show these bastards no mercy – they will not do it as well. We're on our way!", she stopped talking to the radio and turned to Sara, "Seems like looking for survivors has become less of a priority now. Sorry Sara."

"He is fine.", the other woman replied with a confident voice, "He is a fighter. This planet will not break him.", and she tried to believe it as well, "Let's go – they need our help."

Cora nodded and together they ran back to the location their shuttle has landed.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

So this was the second part of the New Earth-Storyline – only one chapter is missing, so stay tuned till that. ^^ But when you liked this chapter, you can review it still – I would appreciate it.


	5. Prolog - Sacrifice in the Family

**Prolog – Sacrifice in the family**

They entered the cave, which was found on the other side of the pit. The big hole in the ground led downwards endlessly – at least it seemed so – but thankfully some of these dark, alien, hexagonal pillars were found within it, so that Scott and Liam could jump with their jump-jets at them and then to the other side of the pit.

The number of alien plants increased, this time not the odd yellow or weird blue ones, but the rather grass-like small ones, found on the ground, while they moved through the cave. "Check that out.", Liam said, having gone ahead once again, reaching a bigger chamber of the cave. Light shone from above, right at something which could be best described as young and still small tree, but its leaves – stretching upwards – looked still alien enough for this place.

Still it excited Scott more than the rest he has seen till now. "Now this looks more like the golden world my dad was expecting.", he exclaimed going the short cliff down into the chamber. He found even more green plants here, some of them even looking identical to things he knew from Earth.

"Then…", Liam started asking, following Ryder, "The long-range scans were right? This could've been home?", while they surrounded the tree looking up at it in awe.

"Six-hundred years ago.", Scott agreed, "And then…who knows.", before stopping at the tree.

"How's this even possible?", Liam asked confused, looking at Ryder, but meaning this tree right in the middle of this dangerous environment.

"Extreme example of microclimate, maybe?", Scott suggested, "Shielded by the cave all these years?"

"While the rest of the planet died?", Liam added sounding more dreadful.

Scott nodded. "Something nasty happened out there.", he explained, "But this means there's hope. Life as we know it can thrive in Andromeda.", right before scanning it with his Omni-tool, "If it's anything like plants back in the Milky Way, there are signs of cellular mutation.", while checking the data.

"It's lasted this long.", Liam said jokingly, "Guess that makes it the Alpha-Tree, huh?"

"Yeah.", Scott agreed more serious, "But what happened to all its friends outside?", before looking down and seeing something else in this alien-grass: a ring-shaped device. Inside it was some kind of creature, looking awfully similar to a tick, but as big as a dog. It seemed surrounded by some kind of glass, which forced it into a stasis or perhaps killed it. Ryder scanned it as well, telling the results: "Dead animal here, in some sort of trap. Pretty recent, too."

"You suppose those aliens set it?", Liam asked alarmed.

"If they did, they don't place nice with anyone.", Scott replied sounding sad.

Then they left the chamber on its other side, where a path led upwards and outside of the cave. There they moved upwards even further, so that a cliff appeared to their right side.

Suddenly both of them started to hear something in their Com, some kind scratching. "You hear that?", Liam asked, sounding curious, but also anxious.

"Yeah, radio static.", Ryder replied, before adding, "But like a pattern.", they moved on, slower than before, "That static's getting louder.", till they reached a green pipeline progressing from right to left, right into another cave leading upwards into the mountain. And the closer they came to the cave, the louder the static became.

They entered it, hands close to their pistols. Their steps were cautious, but then they heard a familiar voice: "What do you want?" – it was Greer.

"Nyro rekhet!", an alien voice replied and the two sped up, bowing their upper bodies forward and drawing their pistols.

"I don't understand you!", Greer shouted, "I'm from the Milky Way!", while the two passed many of the blue mushrooms and needed to turn left. Then they saw the situation: two aliens, rifles at the ready and Greer only a rocky wall at his back. The aliens shouted more at him, while he tried to talk with them: "We come in peace! We need help! Our ship crashed and…"

Scott and Liam got into a good position right behind the preoccupied aliens and before they could even turn around, fired at their backs – they didn't stand a chance. Afterwards they rushed to their fellow crewmate, who sounded relieved, when he said: "Thank God. I was tapping my Mic, hoping someone would notice."

"You okay?", Ryder inquired sincerely worried.

"Yeah.", Greer replied thankfully, "Where are the others?"

"You're the second we found.", Liam answered this time, "But Fisher's alive back at the crash site."

"He's got a broken leg and needs help.", Ryder added.

"I'll check around for supplies, then head back.", Greer suggested, meaning the few alien boxes standing around.

"Perhaps we should go back as well.", Ryder replied, crossing his arms, "Don't like that he is all alone out there."

"SOS on frequency 1543.", all of them suddenly heard in their radio, "Anyone there?"

"Shit, that's Hayes!", Greer exclaimed sounding relieved.

"Harper and Ryder here, we read you!", an answer followed, "What's going on?"

"That's Cora.", Scott added, listening very carefully.

"We are getting surrounded!", Hayes replied anxiously, "It's these alien guys you described."

"They seem to have the same problems as us!", Liam exclaimed, gripping his pistol harder.

"Stay put and show these bastards no mercy – they will not do it as well.", Cora replied, "We're on our way!"

 _We?,_ Scott thought, _Perhaps Sara and Dad are there as well…,_ he looked towards the other two men, "Can we find out where they are?"

"Wait a moment…", Greer answered, working at his Omni-tool, "I have their Navpoint!"

"Send it us!", Ryder replied, activating his Omni-tool, "Liam and me go help them, you go help Fisher and bring him to this Navpoint."

"Understood.", Greer nodded and sent the Navpoint to them, "Good Luck!"

"You too!", Liam replied and the three separated again, moving out of the cave and to two directions. They needed few minutes, passing several more open parts of the terrain, but in the end as well a small canyon, before they heard the first shots. They quickly drew their weapons and ran to the position: the terrain was a mix of alien grass, rocks, Initiative stuff and the shuttle to their right, while people, as well like aliens, shot at each other. "We outflank them!", Scott suggested, pointing to the left, where the enemy was coming from a landed shuttle. They started firing, while Liam shouted to the radio: "Cora, we've got your back!"

"They're trying to pin us down!", the lieutenant replied, not really reacting to the origin of the words.

"Doing a good job of it, too!", Hayes added.

The suggested tactic of the two worked: the enemy was completely surprised being shot at from its right flank. One by one Scott and Liam could bring the enemies down, while the ones avoiding their fire got into the range of the other team members, shooting them down like dogs. Also some of these beasts with the cloaking device appeared, but they were outnumbered still.

When the last enemy went down, Liam exclaimed relieved: "Well that settled that."

"Cavalry to the rescue.", Doctor Carlyle reported in the radio, while the two left their cover and moved towards the shuttle, "Nice to see you guys."

"You too, Harry.", Ryder answered, while looking at the survivors, "How is everyone?"

"Still in one piece.", Cora replied catching her breath, "You got here just in time."

When they had come close enough another woman of the team separated from the others and came closer to Scott very quickly. Without a warning she hugged him. "I knew you live, Scott.", Sara said, sounding really relieved.

The other Ryder smirked. "Thought I forgot our bet?", he asked amused, while she let him go slowly, "Got a good story?"

"You can bet on that.", Sara replied smirking as well. She turned around, while Scott looked at Cora, asking her: "Where's our dad?"

"He went scouting ahead, while we tried to find you and repair the shuttle.", Cora replied, before noticing the fact, that Scott held only a pistol in his holster, "Ryder, there's weapons and ammo at the shuttle. Stock up."

Scott went to the shuttle, grabbing a M-23 Katana-Shotgun and some thermal clips, while asking: "Did these things try talking to you at all?"

"Barely a word, then started shooting.", Sara explained, "They killed Kirkland, while we looked for you. Did you have such a bad experience as well?"

"We tried being nice.", Scott answered, while testing the Katana, "They didn't play along."

Everyone looked up when the whirlwind sent another impulse along the way. "Oh hell…", Hayes shouted, "Enemy ship on the way!", pointing at a shuttle moving in on the other side of this terrain.

"Get to cover!", Cora ordered lifting her weapon like everyone else, "Go, go!", the shuttle started floating above the ground instead of landing, while its doors opened, "Here they come!"

"They got balls to try an airdrop!", Liam exclaimed, while the first enemies jumped down, getting shot at from the Pathfinder Team. Liam even threw a grenade at the hostile position, with horrifying result for the enemy. Scott met one enemy too close to their line of defense and mowed him down with one shot of his shotgun, before retreating behind the closest rock for cover. One moment later an explosion hit the terrain, when the hostile shuttle started shaking and falling down, into another valley on the other side of this plateau.

"Ha!", Dr. Carlyle exclaimed, "Lightning zapped their shuttle!", and his voice sounded victorious, before adding a little less enthusiastic, "I can't get a bead on those things!" Despite losing their shuttle, the number of the enemy's soldiers was still quite alarming and they tried to encircle the team.

Scott shot another enemy with his shotgun, right before two more appeared behind their fallen comrade, aiming at him. _Shit…_ he still thought, right before a lightning hit the ground in front of them, sending the two enemies flying and burning. _That was close._

Sara had her own problems on the other side of the plateau, hitting the enemies with spreading fire of her Avenger. Liam was using a shotgun close to her, while Cora held the center with the help of Hayes, Fisher and Carlyle. "Incoming!", Liam shouted, when another shuttle appeared, where the last one went down.

"There is too many of them!", Hayes exclaimed, sounding a little bit in panic, when seeing more enemies jumping down from the shuttle.

"Just keep firing!", Cora replied determined, "We can do this!"

Scott shot down one of the cloaked beasts, before switching a thermal clip of his shotgun. In the meantime he looked at the hostile's drop position, seeing the last enemy jumping down from the retreating shuttle: he was bigger than the rest, looking like pure bone-muscle and in his hands he held something like a minigun, which he fired at his enemies, forcing everyone behind cover. _Shit…this becomes really dangerous…_ he thought, before changing to his pistol and firing from the distance at one of the approaching enemies.

Sara started firing at the big guy, because he didn't hide behind cover. The reason for this was shown quickly: he had a shield like the Pathfinder team. She fired a full barrage at the guy, before needing to throw out another thermal clip and replacing it behind cover. Then Liam threw a grenade at the enemy, who started firing with his minigun again, forcing everyone else into cover – the grenade didn't explode close to him, but still hit another enemy. When the big guy needed to reload his minigun, Sara fired at him and broke his shields. "Finally!", Liam exclaimed and fired at him till he was forced to take cover as well like his fellow comrades.

Scott used this opportunity to fire his shotgun at a nearby enemy, before switching to his pistol and firing a bullet into the head of the big guy – despite hitting, he was still standing and looked at this Ryder now. _Shit, I really pissed him off…_ Scott thought, when the barrage of the minigun was fired at him and he needed to hide behind cover.

But luckily not for long: Sara and Liam fired at him from the other side, hitting him several times and slowly, but steadily he went down. Few more bullets in the head and they have finished him off. Then it didn't take long till the last enemy fell and the defense ended up successfully.

Liam went to the last enemy, who fell, and started shooting at him, even despite being dead. "Liam!", Cora shouted at him, "Enough!"

Liam stopped reluctantly. "Right.", he said sounding angry, "It's just…these assholes really killed Kirkland?! Damn!"

"Stay pissed.", Scott joined this conversation, feeling that Liam could use some working off now when they seem to be save instead of later, with enemies close by, "Use it."

"Will do.", Liam only answered and shot few more times at the corpse.

"Just remember.", Sara joined the conversation, much calmer, "We need that ammo."

"Strangle them if I have to.", Liam replied grudgingly.

Cora sighed and turned to Scott. "What about the others?", she asked worried.

"Fisher's wounded but sitting tight.", Scott replied, "Greer's with him…tough our shuttle's in pieces."

"Guys…", a weak voice from behind said and everyone turned around: Carlyle was holding Hayes, who seemed to have problems standing, while holding her belly. "She's been hit!", he confirmed the scene, while helping her down on the ground.

Suddenly blue sparks appeared around the two and flashes rose up. Rocks started floating like when a lightning strikes down on the ground. _Oh no…_ Scott could still think, before shouting: "Take cover!", but the two didn't move, horror on their faces. Cora reacted quickly, running to them and standing beside them, stretching an arm up into the air – one moment before a lilac barrier appeared around all three, absorbing the power of the incoming lightning strike.

Everyone looked at her with disbelief. "I didn't know you were biotic.", Liam said what everyone was thinking.

Cora looked at him, while the others were coming back. "Don't worry.", she replied, sounding defensive all of the sudden, "It's not contagious."

"I didn't want to…imply…", Liam tried to explain himself, but failing.

"I said don't worry.", Cora repeated herself, before turning around to the two, "Are you okay?"

"Felt better.", Hayes replied first, before adding, "Before they attacked, I…", she needed to cough, "…managed to fix our Coms."

"You're a lifesaver.", Sara replied, coming closer as well, "Now just take it easy."

Scott activated his Omni-tool in the meantime, asking into the air: "SAM, are you there?"

It took a moment, but the answer came: "…QEC link established.", SAM replied with his typical monotonous voice, "Affirmative, Scott. The Pathfinder needs to speak with you.", one moment later a Holo-screen appeared above the tool, showing the helmeted face of Alec Ryder, "Good to see you in one piece.", he said with his calm voice, "What's our status?"

"Liam and I reached your shuttle.", he answered, while the others activated their tools as well to listen what was said, before Cora added, "We have wounded crew. The good news is our shuttle's been repaired. We can get back to the Ark."

The Pathfinder shook his head. "Not with these storms.", he explained, "It's too risky to fly."

"Our wounded can't wait much longer.", Sara joined the conversation, "Do you have something in mind?"

"If the storm is the problem…", Alec Ryder replied, sounding literally as if he would nod, "…then let's solve the problem."

"We're talking about weather.", Scott commented perplexed.

"And I have an idea about that.", Ryder interrupted him from further talking, "Rendezvous at my coordinates, we'll-", he stopped suddenly and turned around, "Damn it. They've spotted me.", and one moment later the connection was cut off.

"Sir?", Cora asked, first calm, then a little bit more in panic, "Sir?!", she looked at Doctor Carlyle and Hayes, as well like the others surrounding her, "Can you two manage alone?"

"I can keep her stable.", the doctor replied, before adding, "For a while."

Cora nodded, before turning to the Ryders and Liam. "Let's move.", she ordered and moved ahead, asking aloud, "SAM, do you have the Pathfinder's position?"

"Marking the navpoint on your maps.", the VI replied as always.

"Doesn't look far.", Cora looked at the map on her tool, "Let's make this quick. We have to get there before the storm hits. No detours."

"What was my dad scouting for?", Scott asked, following the lieutenant as the first one, while the other two closed the gap.

"He was trying to get readings on that tower.", Sara replied first.

"Well, the navpoint puts him near it.", Liam added.

"Exercise caution.", SAM warned them, "The storm front is already gaining intensity."

"Nice to have you back, SAM.", Scott said sounding a little bit sarcastic, "How about some good news next time?"

They moved down along a ramp, having the shape of a spiral along the mountain wall on the left, while a pit was found on the right once again. Sometimes they needed to jump down some cliffs or across some gaps as well, but thanks to the jump-jets they were no hindrance. Finally they reached a spot filled with boxes and equipment of the aliens and working lightning rods. They found something else here as well.

"Dead bodies here.", Cora informed the others, "Lightning didn't do this."

"Neither did we.", Liam added, "This is more than we took out."

"Incendiary rounds.", Scott realized after checking one of the corpses, "My dad's been busy."

"He was an N7.", Sara added, "They don't mess around.", before they reached a tunnel through the mountain to their left. They needed to use jump-jets to get up, but they did it quickly.

They stepped on plates out of the dark material, like the pillars. They were hexagonal as well, being dark beside the green-blue shining lines painted on them. Not far ahead a person was crouching down, wearing a black suit with red lines, which Cora recognized immediately: "Sir…"

He stretched his arm out backwards, without looking back, ordering them almost whispered: "Stay low.", and the four crouched down as well, before getting closer with him to a cliff, from where they could look downwards into a valley close to another pit. Inside this valley were structures, real buildings like the one Sara and Cora had found, but all of them were behind a tall, blue-transparent shield. This shield emitted from pillars in the same shape like the buildings, standing away from each other within regular intervals. Also there were more of the lightning rods and the flashes hitting into them were much stronger than any lightning seen since landing. In front of the shield, covered by these rods, were the aliens, armed and obviously on guard and patrol duty.

"Who are these guys?", Cora asked, on the one hand annoyed, on the other curious.

"Visitors.", the Pathfinder answered, surprising everyone with an actual answer, "Just like us. I don't think they're native to the planet."

"They're not.", Sara agreed, "We found an abandoned lab. Like they've been studying the place."

Alec looked back towards her, for a moment, before replying: "Good work. You actually did some scouting."

That annoyed Sara. "You didn't think I would?", she asked appropriately.

Instead of answering Alex replied with a proverb: "You never know what people are made of, not until everything goes wrong."

Scott smirked, replying: "Plenty of that on this mission.", he agreed on that.

"Sir.", Cora interrupted the family bonding, "You said you had an idea about the weather?"

The Pathfinder turned towards her. "It's the dark energy cloud the Hyperion hit.", he explained, "It's affecting the whole planet, interfering with that…", pointing right at the tower at the end of the alien building complex.

"The tower is caught in a feedback loop with the cloud.", SAM added further explanation, "Together, they're disrupting the entire climate with undirected energy."

"It would explain a cave we found.", Scott realized, "Plant life sheltered from the storm…from that tower."

"It's a good bet.", Alec replied, nodding, "And I think if we can get in there and shut the tower down…"

"The lightning goes away.", Liam finished the sentence.

"And the shuttle can get us out of here.", Ryder Senior added agreeing, "In theory. We just have to get past them…"

"We're banking on science we don't really understand.", Sara tossed in, "What if the theory's wrong?"

"The alternative is an 85% chance of death from lightning strike, capture, or worse.", SAM answered that question, while Alec started using his Omni-tool, before looking back to her, with a face telling: 'Got an answer?'

"Well, when you put it that way…", Sara said, not knowing what else to say.

"No illusions about this.", the Pathfinder continued looking back towards the goal, "It'll be a nasty fight the whole way."

"Beats getting fried by lightning.", Cora warned, "But we risk turning a skirmish with these guys into something worse."

"It's them or us.", Alec replied nodding.

"Oh it's them.", Liam assured, "Problem is we're outnumbered."

"I've been working on that.", the Pathfinder replied confidently, "We just need to change the math.", before activating his tool once again and waiting for the right timing and then he pushed a button.

Suddenly one of the rods exploded, then another and more till the lightning shield was gone. The aliens on the ground, first ready to fight an attacker, realized quickly, that their big shield was vulnerable as well and it didn't take long till the first flashes hit the barrier towers, disabling the shield. Without hesitation the Pathfinder used his jump-jet to jump down, right in between the still shocked enemy. "Works for me.", Liam commented, before following him, as well like the rest one by one.

When Scott started running across the terrain, several of the enemies were already dead, shot by his father or hit by a lightning, so that the path to the broken barrier towers was less troublesome. But after that further enemies appeared, luckily not prepared for an all-out-assault by the team – they fell quicker than finding cover in time. "Get into that building!", the Pathfinder commanded, "We don't want to get bogged down out here!", and set an example, by running an enemy over, getting on the elevated road of the aliens and shooting his way inside the first building. _It looks so easy watching an N7…_ Scott thought partly amused, partly worried about his own skill set.

Another impulse was felt from the whirlwind above the tower, much stronger and louder than earlier ones. The remaining team members got on the elevated road as well, hiding behind the thick railings for cover, while advancing with each fallen enemy. Sara went a ramp up first, weapon at the ready, leading towards the next building's entrance, passing corpses made by her own father. "Keep the momentum up!", the pathfinder reminded the others via radio, "Don't let them get the drop on you!", while they left the second building and went another ramp up, shooting an approaching enemy, before he could fire back.

They reached the upper roads, seeing the Pathfinder hiding behind boxes on the left road, right before jumping into the next crowd of enemies with his jump-jet, surprising everyone of them. "Have to keep an eye on our flank!", Liam reminded in the radio, but the Pathfinder, having already dealt with the hostile presence negated that: "Not if we keep moving forward! Don't let them catch us!"

Scott, Sara and the others started sprinting across the left road, while Liam asked in between breathing: "How's your dad doing all this? He's like a machine!"

"No idea.", Scott replied, while a gap appeared in front of them, cutting them off from the Pathfinder, "But it's working!", one moment before jumping over it with the jet.

"Ready?", Alec Ryder asked at a closed door, "Let's get inside there.", and after some shooting, "It's not far away anymore!"

"Where are we going?", Sara asked in between breathing and firing.

"All the way up to the top!", the Pathfinder replied enthusiastically, while pushing and smashing an enemy with Biotics.

"And then what?", Scott joined the conversation after having dealt with an enemy by using the butt of his shotgun.

"We'll know when we get there!", Ryder Senior replied only and pushed forward again.

"Don't stop!", Cora added, killing an enemy by hitting the head, "If we fall behind, we're dead!"

They reached a room, where the only path led upwards – thankfully some boxes were found right there, so that the team could use them as stairs with the help of their jets. At the top a opened door to the left led to another bridge road, but a longish window to its right allowed the enemy on the bridge to shoot inside the building – but it allowed the team to shoot outside as well, after getting into cover at the lower end of the window. Not much later the first enemies were already down and the Pathfinder was on the road, pushing forward once again.

"The storm is getting worse!", Sara warned the others, trying to follow the Pathfinder.

"We'll lose our chance if we don't beat it!", Ryder Senior replied, "Come on!", and a moment later a lightning hit an enemy in their way, sending the corpse flying downwards.

"Hell yeah!", Liam yelled, "Lightning's finally on our side!"

"Until it's not!", Cora warned him, but joining him run across the road bridge anyway. They finally reached a bigger platform, right in front of the tower, which was rising up into the air to their right.

"This looks like a control center.", the Pathfinder informed them, checking some of the devices at site already, "Keep an eye out for more coming up behind."

"We made it! In one piece!", Liam exclaimed, while the team split up: Sara and Liam stayed behind to keep any incoming enemy covered coming from the way, they've come from, while Cora and Scott pushed forward to cover an identical looking bridge like the one behind them.

"Not over yet.", Ryder Senior reminded them, leaving the devices and going closer to the tower, which seemingly owned a gate like the one from the church structure, "I need to get through that door over there!", before stopping at some kind of triangular panel, looking awfully similar to the design of the tower, "I need to decipher the language."

 _Well nothing easier than that…_ Scott thought getting behind cover and looking out for enemy's approaching. And the aliens didn't let them wait for long, attacking from both sides, once successively and then together. The hostile fire was enormous, but this time the enemy needed to advance, leaving cover behind and allowing the team members to shoot them, grenade them or biotic them down.

"They mean business!", Cora shouted into the Com, "Keep them off your dad!"

"Analyzing possible inputs.", SAM informed everyone, "Twenty-five percent decrypted."

Big Guys appeared, once again being armed with shields and miniguns. Their fire always forced at least one of the two defenders for each side to hide behind cover, while the other tried to get rid of these guys. Worse than the situation at the shuttle was the fact, that this time they looked for cover as well. _Bad timing to learn from your mistakes…_ Scott cursed mentally, shooting at the approaching enemies.

"Well?", Ryder Senior asked, impatiently.

"Fifty-percent decrypted.", SAM answered promptly, "It's an unusually complicated syntax."

"I can see that.", the Pathfinder checked the data, "Try a recursive search."

"I will need a moment to evaluate the pattern.", SAM replied.

"We only have a moment.", Ryder Senior reminded him, "Do it."

Sara was shooting down one of the beasts right now, which had tried to sneak behind her, but her shields have saved her in time. Liam threw a grenade at one of the big guys, catapulting him right forward, letting him crash close to her. His shields were destroyed luckily, and Sara aimed for the head, shooting several times till he didn't move anymore.

"Sir, any progress?", Cora asked, after pushing another enemy down with the butt of her rifle.

"Decryption is 75% complete.", SAM answered for the Pathfinder, before Ryder Senior added, "We've almost got it!"

Further enemies went down and the team realized something. "Just a little longer!", Cora shouted, seeing it as the first one, "They're falling back!"

"Could be regrouping for another push!", Liam suggested, before adding warningly, "Stay sharp."

But he ended up wrong: the enemy was really retreating right now, seemingly having lost all moral after losing so many soldiers during the fight. Still some of them fought on and the team tried to push them back at all costs.

"Decryption complete.", SAM informed the others.

"That did it!", Ryder Senior shouted happily, "It's a security override – I'll try to open the door from here!", before adding annoyed, "Ah damn – it's jammed! I need to take a look at it!", before running right at the gate. Few moments later he shouted: "Sara, I need your help over here!", because she was the closest, "We need to get this door open!"

Sara ran to her father, seeing that there was a gap in the middle of the gate and Ryder Senior tried to push it up with pure muscle power. Sara joined him at the other side and together they started pushing.

"Put your back into it!", the Pathfinder instructed and the gate slowly, but still resisting moved upwards, into the wall of the tower.

"You really think we can shut this thing down?", Sara asked, in between breathing, hearing further shots in the background – seemingly the enemy wasn't done yet.

"I don't know yet.", Alec admitted, "SAM has decoded part of the language.", while going down now to push the lower part of the gate down, "Now we'll see if I can have a conversation.", whereby he said the last part after opening the gate far enough to enter the room inside.

"Who do you plan on talking to?", Sara asked confused.

Alec turned his head towards her. "More like 'what'.", he explained, "I think it's automated.", before entering a wide, but short corridor. At the end of it, quite in the middle of the tower like it seemed, was a blue triangle floating in the air. And in the middle of the triangle was another one, shining bluish and fed by the three corners of the outer triangle, which were shining as well.

"Come on.", Alec invited Sara after stopping for a moment, "These are the moments that make it all worthwhile.", and Sara followed her father.

After reaching the floating triangles, the Pathfinder ordered: "SAM, begin translating."

"A moment.", the VI answered monotonously, while the two Ryders looked at the shining triangle in the middle, "Indexing.", its blue shining pattern seemed to vibrate and quiet noises could be heard, "Translation complete."

"Let's see what we have.", Ryder Senior said, stretching his arm with the activated tool towards the triangle and orange dots appeared around his hand, before a cloudy version of a network appeared as well. It became bigger and bigger the more time passed.

 _It looks like…a cluster…_ Sara thought looking at the appearing network, _…and is this cloud…this dark energy phenomenon?_

Before she could think more about that the projection of the tool disappeared and the lights at the corners of the outer triangle began shining brighter. One moment later another triangle, consisting out of light appeared around them, bigger than the first two and surrounding both of them easily. The two felt another impulse from the storm above them, but then the vibration stopped as if the technology stopped working suddenly.

Sara turned around as the first, going outside slowly. The storm was gone, as well like the remaining enemies and bright sun light was shining down on the platform of the aliens, while Alec Ryder followed his daughter. "I'll be damned…it's working!", Sara exclaimed almost, when her father reached her, "You did it."

He put his hand on her shoulder. "There's hope, at least.", he replied.

"This is more than hope.", Sara disagreed, "It's proof we weren't crazy. We can fly to a whole new galaxy and still make sense of things."

"SAM had a little something to do with it.", Alec Ryder reminded her.

"It was simply a matter of linguistics.", SAM sounded almost humbly, "Though I am pleased to have-"

Suddenly they heard something from behind and turned around: a bright white fog-wall was rushing right at them from the interior of the tower. Before one of them could even react, it hit them, throwing them backwards with such a force, that they couldn't even hold each other on the platform, falling down into the pit.

"SARA!", Scott yelled still, seeing what was happening, "DAD! NOO!", but it was too late – both of them were gone.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

And so the New Earth-Part ends ^^

I hope you liked it and want to review it.


	6. Prolog - The Pathfinder

**Prolog – The Pathfinder**

The first things Sara remembered, was that she lied down. She started to cough, realizing that her helmet window was broken. She gasped for air, but only the one of the toxic atmosphere reached her lungs, letting her cough even more.

The next thing she remembered was how her father limped to her, calling for an emergency shuttle, before realizing what was happening to her.

The world around her started to fade away, while she still saw, that he put her helmet away and then put something on her head instead. "Everything…will be okay…", he whispered to her, breathing hard as well now. And then everything turned black.

* * *

 _Mother…_ flashes passed her mind… _father…Scott…,_ her breathing increased, _Is this me? I look so young…a child…,_ she started to hear voices, familiar ones, _Lexi? Is that her?,_ and she felt pain, _No mother…father don't go!_

And then she woke up, her eyes opened widely. She started to breathe rapidly, looking around. She was in some kind of dark chamber, recognizing nothing.

"Welcome back.", the not so monotonous voice of SAM said into her head.

Sara forced her body to get up, while she murmured: "What happened?", which gave her a headache.

"You were clinically dead for twenty-two seconds.", SAM replied sounding casually. She looked back to see the holographic projection of SAM hanging down from the ceiling. _Am I in SAM Node?,_ she started to realize her location, after seeing several technical gadgets around her and his projection, which looked awfully close to servers.

Another thought crossed her mind. "Did the rest of the team make it?", she asked worried.

"Hey.", a voice from the front replied and she saw that it was her brother, sitting and probably earlier sleeping on the ground, "You're back, Sara.", he quickly rose to his feet sounding happy, but also really, really relieved, "I already thought that I would lose you."

Sara smiled warmly, while he came closer to her, sitting down on a free spot of the 'bed' she was occupying and hugged her tightly. "So bad, hm?", she replied, not being able to prevent herself from crying, after seeing the tears on her brother's cheeks, "I am ok…I think…", before starting to focus on her body and feeling no pain – _Good or Bad Sign?_

"I better go get the others…", Scott said stopping the hugging and wiping away the tears, trying to look as brave as always, "Doctor T'Perro will want to check you for sure….", and he stood up already.

"Wait…", Sara grabbed his arm, "Wait…Scott, what happened?"

Scott looked down at her and he didn't look very happy anymore. "Your helmet broke.", he said straight ahead, "Father found you and gave you his…he wanted to save you and…he did."

Sara looked at him, the realization hitting her face. "Is he…is he…?", she tried to ask, but failing.

Scott licked his lips, before answering: "He is alive…for now.", he replied, "He got the same toxic atmosphere into his lungs as you, but much more of it and it already almost killed you.", he looked back, looking behind her at the projection of SAM, "God alone knows how he survived, but SAM here was the reason you did.", he looked back down, "The implant…it seems to able to do more things, than we imagined."

"Is he…in coma, like I was?", Sara asked, still not knowing how she should feel.

"Sort of.", Scott replied, still looking as if he didn't want to talk about it, "They couldn't help him like they did with you. There was still too much toxin in his body, killing him slowly. So…they put him back into stasis. He is in a pod again.", he took a deep breath, "Dr. T'Perro hoped that it could bide us more time to find a solution…and it did – his whole metabolism is slowed down to almost death-like, so is the effect of the toxin. But being in stasis doesn't mean…"

"He is safe...", Sara put the rest together, "…but could still die…does Lexi know a method to cure him?"

Scott's face told more than any answer. "They still don't know…", he finally replied, sounding miserable.

Sara looked down, trying to hide her fear. She has lost her mother once, losing her dad now…"He will be fine.", she decided, looking back up, "He is an N7 and a Pathfinder – he survived more than any of us could think off. He WILL survive.", nodding unconsciously.

Scott's face changed a little. "Let's hope that.", he replied, before turning around, "I get Dr. T'Perro inside to check you out now."

It didn't take long till the Asari came inside, along with Cora, Captain Dunn and Scott in the end. The Doctor executed some simple tests to check out if her brain was working and the results were promising. "You seem to be back with us.", Dr. T'Perro finally said, "Thank the Goddess for that."

Sara looked up to the other members of the Pathfinder Team and Captain Dunn. "So what will happen now?", she asked curiously, but also sounding tired, "Is the Ark still drifting?"

"Nope.", Scott replied, before anyone else, "Whatever dad did with that tower, it saved the day. Some sort of atmosphere scrubber."

"The energy cloud thinned out.", Captain Dunn joined the conversation, "We're on our way to the rally point now. Should be at the Nexus soon."

"And…", Sara continued looking up to Cora, "…Cora is Pathfinder now?"

Everyone looked not so sure. "We didn't expect to lose Alec…at least for now.", Captain Dunn explained, crossing her arms at the back, "We discussed the situation and decided that you, Scott and Cora should lead the Pathfinder Team for now, Cora as Acting Pathfinder, you two as her lieutenants, till we find a more permanent solution…or Alec can be woken up safely.", she sighed, before adding, "I hope for the latter."

"We all do.", Cora said, doesn't sounding so happy about the said things, "What do you think, when you'll be ready again?"

"She needs to rest first.", Dr. T'Perro answered this question for her.

"We'll be at the Nexus in the next six hours.", Captain Dunn informed the rest, "At least according to our telemetry. Will this be enough?"

"She has to.", Cora replied this time for her, "Don't know what will await us there.", before turning her head towards Sara, smiling in an appreciated way, "Hope that will be enough.", she turned towards Scott, "We'll need to prepare some things, let's go.", and so the two left.

The other two left as well, before SAM said something again, sounding rather emotional for his manner of speaking: "Your father is strong – I am helping him with that."

"What do you mean, SAM?", Sara asked confused, before adding, "And you sound…different than usual…"

"This is our private channel.", SAM explained, "Till now I shared it only with your father, but he lifted my restrictions, before he lost his consciousness. He wanted that you and your brother experience what he has experienced for a while now – even when not the same in total."

"He never mentioned anything about that.", Sara replied, sounding confused.

"It allowed me to know him better.", SAM replied, sounding almost living, "Alec wouldn't want us to lose sight of the goal. So instead of him, I will help you two to reach it now. I promise you that."

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

And these are the second, the third and fourth major changes I am doing to the story: first, Alec Ryder doesn't die…at least for now. But he is incapacitated like the Twin is in the actual game, because I think some kind of bigger sacrifice needed to be made in the end of the prolog. And also, Alec Ryder was shown quite OP in the game as well like in the chapter before this one, so removing him from the picture, at least for now, will help with the Ryders' growth from here on, without making it too easy.

The second change was with SAM: in the actual game SAM's circuits melted together with Ryder's brain, creating a symbiotic connection between these two, although it was executed rather in a bad way. I did something similar, not identical – I don't know how you feel about that, but knowing that a robot was inside my head, having even control over parts of my brain, isn't a thing I feel comfortable about – but still something allowing the bond between SAM and the Ryders to grow as well – and I hope I do a much better job than Bioware Montreal did in the game.

The third and last thing I changed in this rather short chapter was the new Pathfinder. In the actual game Ryder becomes the new Pathfinder after his father passed away, completely ignoring the fact that Cora was his second-in-command, his lieutenant, the one trained for this position and with the actual experience to do this job. Considering the fact, that these guys were still in a rather dangerous situation, thousands of lives at stake here, this was quite a dumb decision and one nobody would never ever do in such a situation – except for a game designer, who wanted to make the player the most important role in the whole game. Quite a lazy decision, not made the first time in RPG-history. So my change: Cora is Pathfinder-Surrogate and Scott and Sara are her lieutenants – although I didn't add a hierarchy between these two for a reason. If this situation will stay this way, I haven't decided yet – the best thing about not having all details planned out yet, is that you still can fix things, which didn't develop as good as you wanted to.

So stay tuned till the next chapter.


	7. Interlude I - Primus

**Interlude I – Primus**

She stepped out of the shuttle, onto its ramp, which led to the platform. She went the path slowly, looking ahead at the cause of all the problems on this planet: the tower of these aliens. For months her troops wanted to open its gate and now it was opened, not by her own soldiers.

"Primus.", a deep voice from the side said and she looked there. The commander of the local troops was standing there, bigger than his soldiers, but not armed this time. Few members of his legion were standing around as well, although most of them were inside the tower right now.

"Centurion.", the Primus replied with her gentle voice, stepping towards him, "How did you fail?"

His look was miserable, as if he was awaiting punishment. "I underestimated the enemy, Primus.", he replied, not trying to find excuses.

"The newcomers, I presume.", the Primus deduced without hesitation, "They have become quite a pest in the last year.", she casted a glance at his troops nearby, "How many did you lose?"

"More than half of my legion's strength.", the Centurion replied honestly, "Most of them during their surprising assault on our base."

The Primus nodded. "You outnumbered them, had the better position and still you failed.", she growled, before taking an angry breath and looking at the gate of the tower, "What have you seen?"

"It doesn't matter what THEY have seen…", a new voice stopped the centurion from answering. The Primus looked back to the shuttle, where her superior left it right now: he was a head taller than her, slender-built and dressed nobler with a cape, as was his right by rank. This was symbolized by the ring, made out of his bones, right at the top of the back of his head, expanding backwards. "It matters what the INTRUDERS have seen.", he finished his sentence with his deep, clangorous voice.

"I see, Archon.", the Primus replied, bowing her head, while he passed her, moving right at the tower. She looked back to the centurion who gave her the device with the recording. Before she left him however, to follow the Archon, she ordered him: "Decimate 1/10 of your remaining legion, as punishment for failure. You choose whom. But when this legion fails another time, I will choose."

"I understand, Primus.", the centurion bowed his head, but she still could see the relief on his face. She followed the Archon right into the dark chamber within the tower, where the troops were standing to both sides, parading their commanders.

The Primus looked at the shining triangle, floating in the air. _Half a legion lost…for what?,_ she asked herself, before handing the device to the Archon, who seemed to wait impatiently already.

He activated it and it started to flow, before flying backwards and projecting the recording in front of the triangle. _This creatures are so puny…_ the Primus thought, when looking at the black suited intruder, _And still they are so dangerous._ The figure was stepping forward, right beside the Archon who observed each movement with certain interest. Then the intruder stretched out his hand towards the triangle and the Archon copied this movement, but even after waiting few seconds, nothing happened.

The Archon lowered his hand and looked at it, in confusion. Then he seemed to realize how this situation looked like and turned around, anger on his face. He marched back towards the shuttle, while the Primus followed him. "I want them found, immediately.", he hissed towards her, without stopping or looking back.

"It will be done, Archon.", the Primus replied, knowing about his obsession, but also knowing that she couldn't dare deny him – at least for now.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

And another change I am doing here. The reason should be obvious: in the game these aliens were the stereotyped villain of any evil empire/evil aliens/evil conquerors and so on – so with other words, they were boring as hell. Even the Reapers from the trilogy were much more interesting, despite the stupidest reason for doing things, they could have possessed. So I will shine more light on these guys, trying to make them not only interesting in their own right, but also much less like the super-evil empire they were portrayed in the game – after all the best villain is the one who thinks he is doing the right thing. So await more of this kind of chapters, showing more of the antagonist of this story.

And with this another shortie the Prolog is officially over. When the next chapter will be released…well it depends on my mood, the feedback from here and my free-time schedule ^^ So stay tuned till then.


	8. CI - When a dream has fallen apart (CE2)

Codex Entry: **Virtual Intelligence (VI)**

A virtual intelligence is an advanced form of user interface software. VIs use a variety of methods to simulate natural conversation, including an audio interface and an avatar personality to interact with. Although a VI can provide a convincing emulation of sentience, they are not self-aware, nor can they learn or take independent action.

VIs are used as operating systems on commercial and home computers. Menial VI 'agent's are also available. Agents are compact and specialized. Some serve as personal secretaries, filtering calls and scheduling meetings based on user-defined priorities. Others are advanced search engines, propagating themselves across the ExtraNet to collate user-requested data.

Commercial VIs in a variety of stock personalities are available at any software retailer. Boutique firms and hobbyists also build unique VIs to personal specification. Although software emulation of living personalities is illegal, reconstructions of famous historical figures are common.

Codex Entry: **Artificial Intelligence (AI)**

While a virtual intelligence is little more than a sophisticated interactive operating system, an artificial intelligence is a self-aware computing system capable of learning and independent decision making. Creating an AI requires adaptive code, a long education, and a specialized quantum computer known as a 'blue box'.

In the Milky Way, artificial intelligence is considered a threat to galactic civilization. The Geth – synthetic lifeforms who turned on their quarian creators – are often used as an example of the destructive capability of rogue AI, and those who attempt to create AI without strict Citadel Council oversight are subject to sanctions or even arrest.

 **Chapter I – When a dream has fallen apart…**

"And how do you feel about it?", Sara asked, whispering, while going beside her brother.

"Don't know…it's kinda creepy.", Scott replied, sounding uneasy, "And dad had this connection as well?"

"It seems so.", Sara replied, matching the sound of his voice, "I don't know…it is indeed kinda creepy, but also fascinating."

"You don't need to worry.", SAM replied in the private channel, to both of them, "The number of possibilities for me to interact with you has only increased, but is not identical to the relationship with your father."

"And you're using the implants for that?", Scott asked, sounding rather curious, "How is it possible that nobody noticed such hidden features?"

"I needed to override some protocols.", SAM replied, sounding even a little bit happy, "The normal implants doesn't have these features.", and then, as if he has noticed what he had said not before now, "But without your father's authorization I wouldn't have done it."

"And why is that?", Sara asked, her curiosity stirred up, "Why all this secrecy about the whole thing?"

"Your father has forbidden me to tell you.", SAM said in a matter-of-fact tone, "But he changed his decision in part of the authorization as well, so it could be possible, that I can freely speak about this now as well.", he paused for a moment, "I am not sure yet. Allow me to analyze it and I will see, if I can answer the question."

The Twins looked at each other for a moment, confused about this, but then shrugged it off. They entered the bridge of the Hyperion, where Captain Dunn, Cora and Liam were already waiting at the railing of the elevated back part of the room.

"Ryders.", Captain Dunn greeted the two, before looking at Sara, "Good to see you on your feet again.", then she looked at the screen, "We're at the Nexus." The screen showed a huge blue shining planet at the bottom, while still quite far away a space station was seen. A ring was identifiable, as well like two plates at the bottom and top of the ring. "It's the forward hub for the entire Andromeda Initiative.", Captain Dunn reminded everyone, "The asari, salarian and turian Arks should be there, too."

"Let's hope they've had better luck.", Scott replied to this information.

"Starting our approach now.", one of the pilots, a woman, announced, while the structure came closer and closer on the screen. In the meantime the true size of the station started to become visible: the Hyperion, one of the biggest ships ever built, was smaller than a part of the plates by several degrees – it couldn't compare actually. Within the ring itself – which owned a middle structure across its diameter – the Hyperion would fit at least a hundred times. The plates were even bigger, stretching out from the top and bottom of the ring, vertical to it, having enough space for perhaps few hundred Ark Ships.

"It's almost as big as the Citadel back home.", Liam said, stepping closer to the screen and meaning the biggest space station of the Milky Way.

"Nexus Control, this is Ark Hyperion, requesting docking clearance.", the pilot from earlier said into the Com, adding a minute later, "Captain, I'm only getting their automated approach channel, not a live person."

"Well like it or not, we're here.", Captain Dunn replied stubbornly, "Take us in.", and the Hyperion started to move right at the middle structure of the ring, passing the plates above and below itself. So close it could be easily seen that some parts of the plates weren't finished yet, showing only metal scaffolds.

"Construction should've been finished by now.", Cora explained, sounding confused.

"Could be worse…", Liam said, smirking.

"How?", Sara asked a little bit angry, "Habitat 7's a bust, we might've started a war with the first aliens we met, and our Pathfinder's incapacitated. _This_ better be rock bottom."

Everyone, above all Liam, looked at her in awkward silence. "Green across the board.", the pilot broke the silence, "Docking initiated." The Hyperion has reached the middle section of the middle structure within the ring. It was broader than the remaining rectangular staff-structure connecting both sides of the ring and had the shape of a rhombicuboctahedron, whereby at its top and bottom it was connected to the remaining structure, being an integral part of it. The other four flat and straight parts of it owned gates in their middles and the Hyperion was floating right at one of these – the gates had the perfect size for being a Hangar for an Ark. The bow of the Hyperion entered the only opened gate, before stopping the ship, while more than 3/4 of it was still outside. The engines of the Ark, till now spread in all four directions, were folded back together, uniting with the shell of its Ark.

"All right.", Captain Dunn sighed satisfied, before looking towards Cora, "I got us here. Good luck, Pathfinder."

Cora nodded towards it, before inviting her team members to follow her with her as the lead as well. Together they left the bridge, while the Captain and her staff remained at their spots. "The captain just called you 'Pathfinder'.", Sara said accompanying Cora, while the guys were behind them, "This is really happening."

Cora took a deep breath. "I hope your father will be satisfied with my work.", she replied not so sure about herself, "This should've been his moment." She sounded a little bit sad about that.

"But now it's yours.", Sara replied, trying to hide her true feelings, wanting to sound confident, "You just need to decide what you're going to do with it."

Cora nodded towards that, leading the team to the tram. They went throughout the Atrium, a big chamber right behind the bridge. They needed to go stairs down to enter the real part of it. The Atrium was divided by a huge wall occupied with terminals, while all around the room plants within boxes were found. The only part where both parts of the Atrium, which were designed mirror-inverted, were connected, was close by to the stairs. While passing they eavesdropped to some conversations talking about connecting the Hyperion with the Nexus for coordinating the supplies.

They moved passed an open door, which led to another stairs. To the right was another door, leading to the other side of the Atrium, while right at the bottom of the stairs was a bigger one, leading towards a smaller chamber. Its left side was occupied by huge holo-projecting devices and some crew members were obviously analyzing data there, while the right side owned only benches and plants. This time they ignored the talking of the crew members and went straight ahead to the door on the other side of the chamber, further to the right side.

Next they reached a section which was designed identical on all decks of the Hyperion: stairs, close to devices, which led to a door; on the other side of the door was a corridor, which ended up at the door to the tram. Scott had to deal with a possible overload in the identical section of the Cryo Bay, back then when they hit the anomaly the first time.

Once inside the tram, Cora activated it to drive to the docking section of the Hyperion. "It'll be nice to see some friendly faces this time.", Scott said, sounding really hopeful.

"The Nexus runs a support crew.", Cora informed him, "Just enough to finish building the station and provide safe harbor for the Arks."

"Means we can start waking our people up.", Sara added in the same way like Scott.

"They built a bar, right?", Liam replied, amusing the others, "Gotta have champagne for the welcome party."

"You're expecting one?", Scott asked, smirking.

"After what we've been through, I could use a buzz.", Liam answered only, before sighing.

"We all could.", Sara agreed, nodding.

"Yeah.", Liam nodded, sounding a little bit upset, "Rough ride so far."

"We'll bounce back.", Cora added, sounding more confident, "Real food and a shower are just ahead."

The tram stopped finally, opening up to another, quite short corridor with a closed door at its end. "Here we are.", Sara said, following Cora like the rest. The acting Pathfinder opened the door with the help of her Omni-tool, but on the other side only darkness awaited them.

"Uh…", Liam commented, sounding quite unsure, "I don't see any champagne."

"Where is everybody?", Scott asked, confused, while stepping through the door as the first one. After his eyes have accustomed to the darkness, he realized that there were lights, even when they were quite small and only few. Still they allowed him to see, that the path ahead was relatively open and empty, beside plant boxes here and there.

"Well, this can't be right.", Sara mentioned, following her brother like everyone else. Beside plant boxes few devices, looking stored away, were seen on the left side.

"It's like everything's on standby.", Cora realized and moved ahead to a circular, flat device right on the ground, which turned out to be a projector – one moment after stepping closer the hologram of it a lilac, transparent Asari appeared above it. Its appearance looked artificial.

"If it's a surprise party, they're doing an awfully good job of it.", Liam commented from another part of the section.

"We could see what the VI has to say.", Cora informed the others, before stopping at the hologram, "Introduce yourself."

"Welcome to the Nexus, gateway to Andromeda.", the transparent VI began with a high-pitched voice, "I'm Avina, a virtual intelligence designed to assist you with immigration." Her body and face were not designed very much in detail, but still one could see holographic clothes on her transparent body.

"Ehem…", Liam barged in, "Can you tell us where the welcome party is hiding?", whereby he tried to sound as clear as possible.

"I'm sorry.", Avina apologized, "My code is limited to information and simple interaction simulations.", she raised her right arm and a holographic list appeared below it, "Please select from the following pre-programmed responses."

The list was short: Immigration, Andromeda Galaxy, The Nexus, Living arrangements and current year. Cora chose 'Living arrangements', by asking: "Where do the colonists live right now?"

"Once you've cleared immigration, our helpful staff will assist you in choosing the homeworld of your dreams.", Avina started to rattle off her script in a polite manner, "Will it be the tropical paradise of Habitat 7? The gentle rolling hills of Habitat 3? Or perhaps the mysterious twilight world of Habitat 5? Whichever you choose, rest assured our Pathfinders have carefully vetted all colony worlds to ensure your security and prosperity."

"Oh, boy.", Scott replied, shaking his head.

"Habitat 7?", Liam said the obvious, "That's where we landed. She's way out of date."

Cora chose 'current year' next, hoping for a better answer: "What do you mean with current year?"

"The current year is 2819.", Avina started to rattle off politely again, "After spending 600 years in stasis, it's normal to feel disoriented or confused upon arrival. Our helpful medical staff can assist with any physical or psychological aftereffects you may be experiencing."

"Well, she's got the date right, at least.", Sara commented that, sighing.

"So where is everyone?", Scott still asked the most urgent question. Cora logged off, whereas Avina said her goodbye by further rattling off scripts, which could be found in a Vid-advertising as well.

"Right….", she sighed, "That was helpful." They left the projection device of the VI behind and went left, where a ramp let to an area found lower than the rest and with much more plants. They started using their Omni-tools now for scanning after any lifeforms, which could talk as well. After passing the plant boxes, they found something.

"There's a guy.", Liam explained, pointing at a man, bowing down to work at an opened circuitry box within the wall there, "Maybe he's got champagne."

They approached him together, although the guys needed to stay behind, because there wasn't enough space around him. "Hi there.", Cora greeted him, attracting his attention and so he stood up and turned around, wearing some kind of engineer overall with helmet, "We're from Ark Hyperion. And wondering where everybody went…?"

His eyes opened widely, but he didn't say a word.

"Did he hear you?", Liam asked from behind, starting to wonder.

"Did you say an 'Ark'?", he finally asked, sounding confused, but also quite disbelieving.

"This is the Nexus, right?", Sara replied instead, "Pretty sure we parked in the right place."

"And for what it's worth, your VI over there could use an update.", Cora added partially joking.

The engineer looked from one face to another, still looking as if a miracle has happened. "Of course.", he answered the joke, but stammering a little bit, "I'm sorry…it's just…we thought you were all dead!"

Now it was the pathfinder's team's turn to open their eyes wide openly, in shock. "What?", Cora asked, not able to say something else right now.

"Or captured.", the engineer replied, sounding more sure now, but not very comfortable, "Or lost in dark space, or…", before stopping and showing a happy smile, "But you're here. You have no idea how much this means."

"I don't believe it…", suddenly another, deep flanging voice said, coming from the spot the team has entered the lowered section of this area. Everyone looked that way and saw a Turian, a tall alien race, which resembled partly a lizard, partly a bird and partly an armored tank thanks to their skin, looking like the one of a dragon. Their faces looked like a mask thanks to their carapace and the moveable set of mandibles. The turian's face was chalky-white; below his deeper set, small eyes were thick blue lines and at the top of his skull horns progressed backwards, typical for the male version of these aliens. He wore a dark armor suit with glowing green-blue lines.

"I'm Tiran Kandros.", he introduced himself, while the Pathfinder team stepped towards him, "I lead our militia on the Nexus.", before grabbing Cora's hand and shaking it forcefully. His face was hard to read, not untypical for his species, but probably he looked happy, deducing from his voice.

"I'm Cora Harper.", the acting Pathfinder introduced herself, before pointing at her team members one by one, "This is Scott and Sara Ryder, as well like Liam Kosta – we're part of the Pathfinder team."

When the word 'Pathfinder' was said, Kandros startled up and became much more focused than one moment before. "I'm sorry for the confusion.", he apologized, "Our sensors told us an Ark had arrived, but Heleus is notorious for scrambling equipment.", after taking a short breath, he added, "We thought you were just another malfunction."

"But aren't you expecting us?", Scott asked, sounding confused.

The Turian shrugged with his shoulders, while his mandibles – split apart from the chin – moved lightly. "You're the first Ark we've seen.", he explained, "After a year of waiting and no sign of the others, we shuttered this section and stopped looking."

"You've been stranded for a whole year?", Liam asked astonished.

"Longer.", Kandros corrected him, "I'll fill you in on the way to Ops Center.", and turned around and moved ahead, explaining: "We arrived fourteen months ago. Right away we hit a band of dark energy that knocked us off course."

"We're familiar with it.", Scott informed him, following.

"Then you'll know why we call it the 'Scourge'.", the Turian continued, reaching the tram, which was connected to the Nexus' tram network as well, "We lost whole sections of the station. A lot of people died.", and after having entered the tram, "No power, no food…the chaos went on for months.", he connected his Omni-tool with the tram, "It finally led to armed rebellion. When order was restored, the insurgents were banished. 'Exiles' we call them."

"Are things back to normal?", Cora asked hopefully.

The Turian shook his head. "Not even close.", he replied, "But you're here now, so maybe the worst is over.", then he activated the tram and it started driving.

"No word from the other Pathfinders?", Cora continued asking, sounding shaken.

"No word from anyone, Period.", Kandros replied, sounding casual.

"Any threats from the locals?", Liam inquired.

"So far, we've stayed hidden.", the Turian answered, "We're in no shape to deal with an attack."

"We've had a first contact situation on Habitat 7.", Scott explained, "Whole thing went south. They tried to kill us."

The Turian shook his head once again. "That wasn't first contact.", he disagreed, "We know about them. Those aliens are going to be a real problem."

"This day just keeps getting better…", Sara commented, sounding lightly sarcastic.

The tram stopped and Kandros led the team outside. Liam ran past them, having increased his speed, while explaining: "You guys go ahead. I'll check out the security situation.", and one moment later he was out of earshot.

Kandros waved them to the right, going a ramp upwards, leading above the door they have passed just now. "You should know our command structure has been fractured.", the turian continued explaining, "Some of us are filling in for leaders who died.", but then he needed to stop, when two members of the Nexus crew ran past them, asking each other, "Is it true?"

The other one of the two answered: "They said drop everything and report for duty."

The Turian continued moving upwards, reaching stairs and sighing loudly, before finishing his sentence: "…and no one was expecting an Ark to finally show up.", explaining the odd encounter in this way as well.

At the end of the stairs they reached an elevated position, a crescentic platform at whose wider end a line of panels was waiting, with some staff at their corresponding positions: most often these were humans, turians or asari. "Docking procedures are green across the board.", one of them reported, sounding disbelievingly.

"Stand by to merge Hyperion power into the grid.", another one, a female, said to her colleagues, but also into the radio, right before everyone stopped doing anything. They turned towards Kandros and the three humans, entering this place and awe was seen on some faces, while hope on few and disbelief on many. Nobody moved for a while, till a Salarian stepped forward.

His species was amphibian and his body looked fragile, but there for tall. His eyes were dark, while his skin was a mix out of grey, light orange and white, although the edges of his eyes were clearly pure orange mixed with red. On his head were the two horns typical for his species, while his body was covered in a typical blue-black and most of all white uniform of the Initiative. "The crew of the Hyperion…", he greeted the newcomers, sounding melancholic.

"Good luck.", Kandros replied only and turned around, leaving the pathfinder team as if they were surrounded by wild animals.

"I'm Jarun Tann, Director of the Initiative.", the Salarian introduced himself, "You have no idea how much your arrival means to us."

"We've heard about what happened, and we're ready to help.", Cora replied for her team members, "At least we hope-"

"We could use any supplies you have.", a human woman joined the conversation. She wore the same uniform like Tann, but more fitting to her species; she had short, ginger hair and her eyes looked tired. "Food, water – we're short on everything.", she explained, still sounding determined.

"This is Foster Addison.", the Salarian introduced her, "She oversees Colonial Affairs.", before starting to look around among the three newcomers and then asking curiously, "Where's the Pathfinder?"

"You're looking at her.", Cora replied, taking a breath, "At least the acting one."

"You're not Alec Ryder.", Tann commented, sounding confused, "Acting?"

"Our Father is in stasis.", Sara explained, "He breathed in too much toxic atmosphere and our sickbay wasn't able to save him…yet.", she casted a glance towards Cora, "The stasis prevents him from dying."

"I am acting as Pathfinder until he can wake up again.", Cora continued the explanation, "These two act as my lieutenants."

Disbelief was seen on the faces of these two, but on Addison's something else was seen as well, even when only for a moment. She turned away, before somebody could look at her more precisely. Nobody said something until she said few seconds later: "Please understand: the entire Initiative is at risk.", and moved forward. Her voice sounded controlled.

She led them to the panel on the other side of the crescentic platform, where a holo-window was projected, being used as a screen. On this screen parts of the Heleus Cluster, as well like some nebulas were seen. "None of the golden worlds panned out.", Addison continued explaining, "They're a bust. And there's been no word from the other Arks.", she turned towards her audience, her face looking like made from stone.

"What happened to them?", Cora inquired.

"Unknown.", Director Tann replied, "Our supplies are nearly depleted. Rationing bought us some time, but even that's running out."

"We need to find more resources.", Addison continued, "But that takes people, and we can't wake them up-"

"-until they have somewhere to live.", Sara finished the sentence for her, "A golden world."

"Now more than ever.", Addison agreed, nodding, before adding more grimly, "We need a Pathfinder."

"It now falls to you, three.", Tann continued looking at the three humans, "Are you up to the task?"

"Well, we came a long way for nothing, if we're not.", Scott answered this question, trying to rise the spirits a little bit with his carefree sounding voice.

"We'll all die if you're not.", Addison crushed this attempt, sounding a little bit angry even.

"That's no way to treat guests.", suddenly another voice was heard and everyone turned around. A female Krogan approached the little group, representing her species as the only one here on this platform. She looked like a dinosaur, but with a wide instead of a long mouth, standing on two feet and equipped with two proper arms, while her frame was less edgy, instead rather fluid, almost gentle. She wore an Initiative uniform as well, but with much more blue than everyone else and beside her dark eyes, her brown scale armored skin on the upper end of her skull, there was also blue paint, looking like a distinctive mark of a gang or something like this. "I'm Nakmor Kesh, superintendent of this station.", she introduced herself, whereby her voice sounded deep, but still soft, "I hope they haven't scared you off already."

"It's nothing personal.", Addison replied and it looked like spark was seen between these two women, "But now isn't the time for on-the-job training."

"At least these tree here seem willing to try.", Kesh countered, "We could use a fresh perspective."

"You've heard my concerns.", Addison replied, looking like she would gnash her teeth each moment, "I'll leave you to it.", and then she left them, leaving the platform.

"We're all feeling the pressure.", Tann seemed to apologize, before changing the topic, "I would like to know more about what happened on your way here, Harper. Let's go to my office for that. There we can also discuss giving you a scout ship."

Cora nodded, but still asked: "Should they come along?", pointing at the Ryders.

Tann hesitated first. "They can come along, when we have discussed the details.", he finally answered and led the way. Cora looked at the two, shrugged and then followed him simply.

"Welcome to the Nexus.", Kesh greeted the Ryders properly, grinning a little bit.

"I can't believe how far off-track things have gone.", Scott commented, shaking his head.

"It's bad.", Kesh nodded, "But it's not over. Not yet."

"Ma'am.", a female member of Kesh' staff interrupted the conversation, "The Hyperion's core is now online."

Kesh nodded and satisfaction was seen on her face. "Let me show you two something.", she said, pointing at the other side of the platform and leading the way, towards the middle panel, which she started using now, "An hour ago, that was all dark.", some kind of engines started to be heard, while she used her free hand to point at the steel wall in front of her, protecting a window, "But with the power from your ship – you're keeping the lights on.", and the wall started to drive down, showing what was behind it, "As long as this is done, your Pathfinder and you two have my vote."

The Ryders looked at the showing scenery behind, showing one of the plates of the Nexus, still under construction. "And when the power runs out?", Sara asked, sounding skeptical.

Kesh grinned again. "There for talking with Director Tann is necessary.", she answered, "Make sure that doesn't happen.", and then she turned around to go to another section of her workplace, before adding, "And don't be shy – come see me when you have a chance."

Scott exhaled loudly. "And it really became worse.", Sara complained, but smirked as well, remembering her past words.

Scott looked at her. "Then it's our job to make it better.", he replied, smiling warmly, "For dad."

Sara looked at him, before she started to smile as well. "For dad.", she agreed.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

Sorry for the delay, but I warned you already, that updates could come irregularly. Semester started and downtime is hard to find. But we reached it, the Nexus, and expect to read a chapter each day from now on, because I try to upload one each day till I finished the whole Nexus-Thing – at least the beginning of it.

With this chapter the world of Mass Effect Andromeda has begun to open up, so I will do it as well. There were some Side Quests on this station and I will try to include them, to let the world feel bigger and more alive.

At the start of this chapter I wrote two Codex Entries of the actual game. The reason for this is simple: This project isn't only for the ones, who know Mass Effect, but also for the ones curious about it. That is also the reason why I described the three new races introduced in this chapter properly. From now on I will try to include Codex Entries at the beginning of each chapter – for the ones knowing all this stuff already, you can skip them. Feel free to do that, if the codex bores you, as well. They are properly marked there for.

So till next time.


	9. CI - Virus? (CE2)

Codex Entry: **System Alliance**

The System Alliance is a supranational government that spearheads human space exploration and settlement in the Milky Way. The Alliance is responsible for the governance and defense of extra-solar colonies and stations, and officially represents humanity on the Citadel Council.

The Alliance was founded out of necessity, as no single nation could fund and manage the rapid expansion of humanity from Sol. The discovery of Prothean ruins on Mars had proven that alien contact was inevitable, earning international support for the Alliance that solidified after the Alliance forces liberated the colony Shanxi in the First Contact War.

Archived ExtraNet articles, and Jien Garson's staff bulletins, reveal tensions between the Alliance and the Andromeda Initiative. Construction of Dreadnought-sized ships and persistent rumors of Artificial Intelligence (also AI) development, which could have damaged humanity's standing on the Citadel, led to the Alliance demanding to oversee the Initiative's labs and shipyards. Negotiations continued until the day of the Initiative's departure.

Codex Entry: **Human N7**

The most respected Systems Alliance officer training is awarded through Interplanetary Combat Training (ICT) at the Vila Militar in Rio de Janiero. Candidates at the 'the villa' are initially given 20-hours training missions to lead teams through hostile terrain on little food or sleep.

Trainees who do well are awarded an internal designation of N1 and are invited to return. Subsequent courses – N2 through N6 – are often held off-planet and include instruction in Zero-G combat, military free-fall (parachuting), jetpack flight, combat diving, combat instruction, linguistics, and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology.

The highest grade of training, N6, provides actual combat experience in conflict zones throughout the galaxy. If the trainee survives these scenarios in 'admirable and effective fashion', he or she finally receives the coveted N7 designation. N7 is the only ICT designation that may be worn on field or dress uniforms.

 **Chapter I – Virus?**

"I am a virologist, not the butcher's assistant.", the doctor replied, sounding furious, "My field of expertise is research and diagnosis, not treating patients."

"I know, I know, Dr. Kadyszewski.", Dr. T'Perro replied, not looking at the human, "And that is also the reason why we have woken you up."

They were at the Cryo Bay, the Asari standing at a terminal, while the human was standing behind her, arms crossed. The human was tall, but slender. He wore the same clothes as each doctor in the bay, white and red, while his face looked older than his 32 years, with wrinkles here and there. At the edges of his short brown hair the first silver was seen as well.

The Asari stopped her typing and data appeared on the screen of the terminal. "That is the patient.", she declared, pointing at the data, as well like some graphic scans of the patient's body. Dr. Kadyszewski looked at the data, his grey eyes speeding through them thanks to his experience.

"It's the Pathfinder, isn't it?", he asked, without taking his eyes from the data, and his voice sounded interested for the first time.

Dr. T'Perro looked surprised. "There is no name…", she muttered astonished, "How…?"

"The Pathfinder's physique was always something special.", he explained, looking at her, "I am still figuring out what he has done with it, beside the implant with this robot.", he licked his lips, "So the problem is a virus, hm?"

Dr. T'Perro looked at him rather fascinated. "At least that is my guess.", she answered, "We first thought it was only the toxic atmosphere, which was killing him. But after further diagnosis we found something…", she pushed further buttons, showing further data, "So what do you think?"

He put a hand at his smoothly shaved face. "It could be indeed a virus.", he agreed, without stopping to look at the data, "Or a microorganism. For sure not only toxic atmosphere, but it will prevent proper scans.", he looked at the Asari, "I will need to perform some of my own tests, but I can assure you that the toxin will reduce the chances of finding the right diagnosis."

"Can you still start performing your tests, Doctor, while we try to find a way to get the toxin out of his body?", the Asari suggested, "We don't know how much time we have."

The human nodded. "Will do it.", he looked at her, "I will try my best to find out what is killing our pathfinder here, Doctor."

"I appreciate that.", Dr. T'Perro said, looking back at the terminal, "As will his children."

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

So who knows the game, will notice that this scene never happened. And Kadyszewski is also a complete new character, I've invented – although some Sci-Fi Fans will probably notice the influences here. He is the first, but not the last character I wanted to add to the Andromeda-World, to make it more interesting. Also his inclusion serves another purpose: instead of ending the story of Alec Ryder with his stasis, I'll continue it with this storyline. So the readers will not forget him completely – I hope so at least.

Till next time, back on the Nexus.


	10. CI - The Directors (CE2)

Codex Entry: **Andromeda Initiative (AI)**

Brainchild of the visionary billionaire Jien Garson, the Andromeda Initiative was conceived as Garson's personal dream and a desire to prove humanity's capabilities beyond the military power demonstrated in the First Contact War. Garson officially began planning the Inititative in 2172, announcing her ambitious goal of launching a pioneering colonization effort to Andromeda within twenty years.

Internal reports show the struggles that the early Initiative faced. However, Jien Garson's personal stake and enthusiasm sustained the Initiative until the early 2180s, when, after a sudden influx of investment and a new marketing strategy, interest in the Initiative grew afresh. Construction of the Arks was completed rapidly thereafter, and the Andromeda Initiative officially launched in 2185.

The Initiative's mission states to bridge Andromeda and the Milky Way, create a sustainable, inclusive civilization and push scientific development forward by centuries. In official literature Jien Garson characterizes the Initiative as 'continuing the search for humanity's next horizon.'

Codex Entry: **Jien Garson**

Founder of the Andromeda Initiative. Garson was one of humanity's wealthiest – and most eccentric – entrepreneurs in the Milky Way. Her business interests were wide-ranging, as she made her fortune from investments in a myriad of technology-related fields. Always a maverick, it was her vision of travelling to a new galaxy that set the Andromeda Initiative in motion. Ignoring skeptics and naysayers, Garson spent vast sums of money building or acquiring the necessary technology and ships to make the long voyage possible. It was a private venture, entirely funded by Garson so as to remain free from any government oversight.

In 2185, Garson began the long journey to Andromeda aboard the support hub, Nexus. In a speech given on the eve of departure, she remarked on the collective knowledge and history represented by the Arks: "We carry all these things like the honed tools of an artist, to our great empty canvas. To Andromeda, we got paint our masterpiece."

 **Chapter I – The Directors**

The Twins moved left, across the platform. They passed the panels with their corresponding crew, consisting out of all species running the Initiative, before reaching stairs leading down – they were installed parallel to the ones they used to get up on the platform, but were located on the other side. The ground level wasn't really worth seeing: almost completely empty except for unopened boxes and cables lying around. They went to the right side, where a closed door was found and opened it with their Omni-tools – at the door a digital ring was seen floating, connecting to the tool and turning from blue to green, signaling that the door got opened.

They entered a bigger room, but most of it was either darkened, because no lights were activated or cramped up with boxes so much, that nothing of it could be seen. Only the niche on the right side of the door was accessible, looking like the desk of a receptionist: a big desk with terminals on the front and bookshelves – with actual books and pads – on the back. "…this is the planet where we landed, Habitat 7.", Cora was explaining right now to Tann, who stood beside her, behind the desk, "It wasn't even close to liveable."

"That's been true of every world we've found.", Tann explained with a motionless face – nothing unusual for Salarians – before turning to the newcomers, approaching the desk, "Ryders – we were discussing your next expedition."

"Good.", Scott said first, sounding excited.

Sara was more skeptical and crossed her arms. "I thought we didn't measure up for being a proper Pathfinder team.", she said, sounding sharply.

"Director Addison is entitled to her opinion.", the salarian replied matter-of-factly, "And mine overrules hers."

"And I was starting to wonder who was in charge around here.", Scott commented on that.

Sara on the other hand asked the necessary question: "Does she know that?"

Tann shrugged. "I oversee the entire Initiative, and I've decided to give your team a chance to prove yourself.", he explained, although he sounded a little bit tensed up, "To that end, the Scourge dealt us a serious blow. Whatever it is, our scientists theorize it's not natural."

"An artificial energy cloud?", Cora asked with valid skepticism.

"It wasn't here when we left the Milky Way.", Tann explained, turning his head towards her, "Yet it rendered all the golden worlds unlivable.", looking back towards the Ryders, "Then there's the aliens you ran into – the 'Kett'. They're obsessed with alien structures we've found scattered around the cluster.", he sighed, "They'll do anything to prevent others from accessing them. It seems murder isn't exclusive to the Milky Way.", he started to type on his terminal desk, "And now the challenge is to settle a world in spite of all that.", a hologram of a planet appeared above it, "This one here – Eos."

"How?", Sara asked still sounding skeptical, while looking at the orange planet shown to them.

Tann took a breath, before answering: "You need to increase the viability of the planet so we can establish an outpost. Then we can bring more colonists out of stasis.", he started to sound like a salesman, "The more colonists we have, the more resources we can gather to support the Nexus.", and now a little bit more serious, "Everything depends on it. There are six worlds we hope to settle."

"Okay…", Scott started to form a question, "But you said every planet you found is unlivable. So how do we…?"

Tann started looking at Cora. "A good Pathfinder would relish the challenge of solving it.", he explained, sounding like a politician now.

Sara crossed her arms, still skeptical, while Scott wasn't convinced so much either, but in the end it wasn't their choice to make. Cora stepped beside both her lieutenants, answering: "And if I fail, I guess it's no sweat off your back, right?", she didn't sound very happy about this, "You'll just look for another Pathfinder?"

Tann's face didn't change a bit. "Placing bets on people is part of my job.", he explained himself, "Some of them pay off. Others…"

"The way I see it, you need us.", Cora replied, sounding determined, "If we pull this off, maybe you'll look like the leader you pretend to be."

"But first, you have to succeed at being the Pathfinder you pretend to be.", Tann countered.

Cora put her arms at her hips, puffing angrily. "Where's the ship you promised?", Scott intervened, before something else could be said, which would worsen the tensed up atmosphere even more.

Tann accepted this move. "They're prepping it now, in the docking bay.", he explained, "The coordinates for Eos will be in the computer.", before adding, using the opportunity, "But before you can depart, we should discuss the missing Arks as well.", he looked at Cora especially, "This could take longer and I would like to discuss this in a more private manner.", he looked at the Ryders, "You can excuse us now, don't you?", whereby this didn't sound like a question.

Sara wanted to say something about this, when suddenly she and Scott started to hear a familiar voice: "Ryders.", SAM said, "Please see me in SAM Node on the Hyperion. Your implants need attention, and I would like to discuss a confidential matter."

She and Scott bandied looks. Both looked surprised, while considering. The Salarian continued looking at them, waiting for a reaction. "Okay.", Sara replied first, "Then we check out the Nexus."

"Yeah, probably there are things to do, we could help with.", Scott added, before the Twins turned around. He still raised his fist towards Cora, telling 'Stand your ground'. Cora didn't look very happy, when the two left the office.

"So, SAM, what's going on?", Scott was the first to ask, while the Twins positioned themselves in a way, that people would think they were talking with each other. The next people, engineers, were also few meters away.

"There are things we need to discuss, in person.", SAM said, sounding a little bit stressed, "And I need to show you certain things."

"Is it urgent?", Sara asked, sounding curious.

"After reconfiguring your implants, maintenance is necessary.", SAM explained, "But right now the worst thing you could get are headaches, with a chance of 7%."

Scott smirked. "So I take that as a No.", he started scratching the back of his head, "So should we go to him now?"

Sara thought about this for a moment, before shaking her head. "SAM, I would like to talk with some people here first, is that alright with you?", she asked the machine.

"As long as it doesn't take too long.", SAM noted.

"Ok, that's alright then.", Sara concluded, looking at her brother, "And what will you do?"

Scott shrugged. "I'll do what we said we would do – check if somebody needs my help.", he explained, before turning away from her, "We'll see us back in his Node then."

Sara nodded, while her brother left her. She on the other hand turned around and went the stairs back up, which they used to get down earlier. She passed the panels on her left side and moved right to more stairs leading upwards to the highest platform in this section of the Nexus. She entered some kind of control center, equipped with even more panels, screens and holographic projectors, as well like its own staff members, standing or sitting around, typing on their panels or pads. One of them, a human male, was in the middle of talking, when Sara stepped on this platform: "Hmm, power couplers, more power relays, excellent.", he sounded pleased, "What…", and then she passed him, going to the middle part of this platform.

"This is Nexus Control to Hyperion.", another of the staff members said, while Sara approached him, "It's good to have you here."

"It's good to be here.", was heard a familiar, female voice from the radio, while Sara passed the man and approached Addison, standing close by, watching like a supervisor.

When Sara came closer to her, Addison started to cross her arms and looked at the approaching woman. Even before Ryder could say a word, she started talking: "All right. What happened?"

Sara was perplexed. "To who?", she asked, sounding curious.

"'To whom'.", Addison corrected her first, sounding furious, "And your goddamn father."

Sara's eyes widened a little bit. _Rocky start…_ she thought, thinking about the answer, but before she could even say something, Addison sighed loudly and put her hand on her face. "Sorry, I feel tired from dealing with…everything.", she explained, sounding exhausted indeed, "And right now, I just want to know what happened with Alec.", she put her hand away again and looked at the other woman, still determined.

Now Sara started to cross her arms. "I don't want to get into it.", she explained, a little bit angry about this attitude after all she went through in the last hours, ""Things went wrong – and now I belong to the people you have to deal with." _, if you like or not._

Addison sounded pissed, when she answered: "Alec Ryder wouldn't accept that kind of ultimatum. Damned if I will. We'd never have left home if we…", she paused for a moment, before sighing and correcting herself, "Not 'home'. The Milky Way. This is home. This…mess.", she pointed at the ground of the Nexus, when she said 'mess', "We don't have a lot of options, Ryder. Maybe Harper, you and your brother prove yourself in the end.", she stopped crossing her arms, sounding friendlier than before, "After fourteen months of failed colonization, forgive me if I don't hold my breath."

Sara took a breath and tried to calm down a little bit. "You called my father Alec.", she started to ask, as friendly as possible, "Not many people do that."

Addison's face started to become warmer, but also kind of sad. "A lot of us joined the Initiative because of his vision.", she explained, sounding honest, "What he shared of it, anyway."

"Are you friends, or…?", Sara inquired not really tactful, but she didn't want to be.

"I'm not your new mother.", Addison replied, sounding angrier, "If that's what you're asking. Or his friend.", although she added the last part sounding sad again, "He hated that I didn't use his title. But no one's a Pathfinder until they've pathfound something.", and with a certain self-awareness in her voice, "Much like a Colonial Director without colonies."

Sara thought about what has been said. "How do you fit into the Nexus leadership as Colonial Director, anyway?", she asked rather curious than challenging.

Addison considered for a moment, if she should answer or not. "I oversee the actual settlement effort.", she decided finally to answer, "As the number of outposts is currently less than ideal, my influence is limited.", and a little bit more grumpy, "As Tann is quick to remind me.", before continuing to explain, sounding a little bit more intimate, "Left a perfectly adequate career as a chief officer. Provincial capital, too. Only a new galaxy could pull me away.", before adding, again annoyed, "And here we are. Idling."

"You've had no colony successes in over a year?", Sara asked disbelievingly, "How many tries is that?"

"Less than you'd think.", Addison was quick to correct her, "The Scourge, spoiled worlds, exiles, hostiles…", she sighed, "We can't just plop down an outpost and expect picket fences. We need the Pathfinder and SAM to scout, evaluate…and inspire.", before sounding self-aware again, "The Initiative promised a goal. Andromeda has not cooperated."

Sara stopped crossing her arms. "There must be some kind of plan for encountering hostile aliens.", she reminded, sounding inquiringly, "We can't have been that naïve."

Addison didn't look very happy. "We expected life, not an enemy that refuses to talk.", she explained, "They don't attack – they disinfect. We're nothing until we're bacteria.", whereby she sounded angry about these circumstances, "Sorry, fourteen months and you stoop to poetry. That's how bad it is.", she put her hand at her chin, looking like she would think, "Not sure who started it, but we're calling them 'Kett'. Kandros will know more.", before adding, more warily, "Maybe too much."

"You don't trust him?", Sara inquired.

"I trust him to defend us.", Addison replied, perhaps a little bit too fiercely, "I do not trust a rising military influence in a supposedly civilian Initiative.", she took a short breath, "We came here to make history, Ryder. Not repeat it.", before groaning, "Ugh, goddamn poetry."

Sara nodded to that, before realizing that this was what she had wanted to ask. _Got my answer quicker than expected,_ she thought, before thinking about her next words. "I bet it will become better now that we are here.", she said after a while, trying to use that as an excuse to leave the conversation and at the same time sounding exhilarant.

Addison didn't join this mood. "Ryder, we're starving here.", she explained, sounding fierce once again, "If we don't get a foundation of outposts to feed the Initiative, we might as well be 600-years dead.", she stepped forward, bringing both faces together, "Alec promised a lot. None of it panned out.", before sounding as she would stab her with a knife, "That's what you're up against. Why people won't trust you. Why _I_ don't trust you.", stepping back slowly, "Prove me wrong.", and then turning around, "Excuse me now, but I have some things to do.", and she ditched Ryder.

Sara looked at her for the next few moments, before shaking her head. _You'll see…_ she thought, before turning around and leaving the elevated platform. She passed also the lower platform, this time through the stairs they have come upwards the first time. The ground level here didn't look very impressive as well, being empty beside some boxes and staff working and so she turned right already, when she saw something changing her mind: another door, identical to the one leading to Tann's office. Her curiosity led her towards it and she entered the room.

It wasn't as big as Tann's office, but not so small either. It was as cramped with boxes and other stuff like Tann's office though. To the left of the door, almost hidden behind the boxes, was another desk panel, behind which Kesh was found, studying a pad. A path in between the boxes led right to the desk and Sara took it. "There you are.", Kesh greeted her, after she approached the desk, "Hope the others haven't been giving you a hard time.", she lowered the pad and turned towards the human fully, "There's a lot that needs doing.", she sounded quite professional, but also sympathetic, "At least with the Hyperion hooked up and feeding us power, my team and I can get more work done."

Sara looked around the cramped spot, pads lying around everywhere. "I was actually quite curious what kind of work you do here as a superintendent?", she asked curious.

Kesh grinned. "I was part of the team that originally designed and built this place.", she explained, sounding proud, "I keep the station functional, or as functional as possible, considering.", although the last part didn't need to be said.

"That the Nexus has problems, I've heard often enough now.", Sara responded, crossing her arms, "But nobody told me what sort of problems, yet. What problems have you seen on the Nexus?"

Kesh snorted angrily. "'Situation's gone to shit' pretty much sums it up.", she explained, before going into more detail, "There's Arks missing. Some idiots tried to mutiny and take over, then more idiots offended my clan, so they left.", she snorted again, "And to top it all, the founder of the Initiative, Jien Garson, was killed."

Sara's eyes widened a little bit. _So she too…_ she thought, realizing now the scale of the leadership's dying on road to Andromeda. "What happened?", she inquired, tensed up a little bit.

"Killed in the Scourge disaster.", Kesh replied, sounding relaxed, "Her and a bunch of other leaders. Tann might know more."

"And I thought the Hyperion had it bad when we arrived.", Sara responded, sounding humbled, "Anything else?"

"No outposts so no more resources.", Kesh replied, before adding, "And a more uptight Addison thanks to that.", she considered for a moment, "And let's not forget how badly the station was damaged on arrival. But that's a detail, according to some.", she sounded frustrated, "My team and I are repairing what we can. If we don't get materials soon, things will go downhill. Fast."

Sara nodded to that, thinking about what she would like to know still, while she had the possibility. "We'll try to be as quick as possible – so long it's possible.", she replied, sounding unsure, "You say your clan left the station. Does that mean we will need to deal with an angry krogan clan as well?"

Kesh shook her head. "My clan will not be a problem to you, but rather to Tann.", she explained, sounding upset now.

"What happened between him and your clan?", Sara asked curious.

"Bet he has his own opinions about that, so I urge you to ask him as well about that.", Kesh replied, sounding grimly, "But I can tell you this much: When the mutiny happened, a deal was made.", she moved her arms, while talking, "My clan was supposed to settle matters and, in return, get more to say in the Initiative."

"Did the deal go through?", Sara inquired, sounding curious.

"The Clan held up their part, but Tann had a meltdown when he found out we wanted more say around here.", Kesh replied, still with a grim face, "Then Addison's assistant, Spender, pretended he never made the deal in the first place.", she shook her head, "It was a mess, but I don't blame my people for walking out. We're done being used."

"But still you stayed…", Sara responded, not asking the obvious question.

The female Krogan understood and for the first time Kesh didn't sound so sure anymore. "It's…", she began, "…complicated. The station and my clan, both, need me here.", and with that she ended the topic.

Sara nodded. She waited for a moment, hoping the krogan woman would continue, but nothing else was said. "I see.", she said finally, before adding, "Then I will leave you with your work."

"Good luck out there, Ryder.", Kesh still said, while lifting her pad again, "You'll need it."

With that Sara turned around and left the krogan's office. She went back to the stairs, they needed to go up, leading back to the tram. _So what now?,_ she considered and making a decision then, _Well, it wouldn't hurt, looking around here as well – why should Scott have all the fun…_

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

Sorry for the delay, but FF had some issues in the last week and I wasn't able to login at all. And I wasn't really in the mood to fix it – so this chapter is released today, not last Wednesday – I hope it doesn't happen again. I like to keep my promises.

I hope you had fun reading this chapter.


	11. CI - The Nexus (CE2)

Codex Entry: **Turians**

Renowned as 'men of action', the turians have a militaristic culture revolving around public service. Turians earned their place in galactic society after their actions in ending the Krogan Rebellions. They subsequently served as the peacekeeping arm of the Citadel Council and commanded the largest fleet in the Milky Way.

Turian society once relied on client species like the Volus to build their economy and trade. In the Andromeda Initiative, the military training all turians undergo allows them to fill many vital civic and security roles, but many have also enrolled for entrepreneurial or diplomatic training to be better-rounded colonists.

Galactic events and their military doctrine have left lingering resentments between turians and some species. The turians were responsible for deploying the Genophage against the Krogans; and misunderstandings with humans led to the First Contact War, though humans and turians have since become cordial, if not close, allies.

Codex Entry: **Turian Culture and Society**

Turian culture is founded on public service and personal accountability. The turian military is the center of their society, functioning as a public works organization, as well as an armed defense force. Citizenship is conferred once turians have competed boot camp (begun on their fifteenth birthday) and promotion through the 27 citizenship tiers is judged on individual merit. At the top are the Primarchs, who lead colonization clusters.

Their inclination to military service and social trends mean few turians pursue entrepreneurial careers, making the turian economy more vulnerable than most. The support of the clients like the Volus makes up for this deficiency.

Turians in the Andromeda Initiative operate outside a comfortable hierarchy. Interviews with prospective turian colonists indicate some are seeking this very freedom to forge their own destiny. Other colonists believe turian selflessness and civic structures will be vital to the Initiative's success.

 **Chapter I – The Nexus**

Scott went the ramp down, leaving his sister behind. He eavesdropped how a technician was communicating with one of his team via Com, sounding very friendly during that: "Melo, you already checked the consoles down here, right?", and after has been given an answer, "Huh. I think you forgot to hit confirm when you filled out the forms. They're not listed.", and after another answer, "Nah, it's fine. If you say you fixed them, you did. I'll just check those boxes for you."

Scott entered the area at the bottom of this section. It was dominated by huge trees in the middle, planted inside bigger containers. To both sides were open rooms, easy accessible, while at the end of the huge room, were several panels and screens.

He walked around, casting glances here and there and seeing many members of the Nexus crew working at some devices or scanning or cleaning up boxes. He reached the end of the longer room quickly and went the short stairs up to the section with the terminals and screens, where several people looking like scientists – similar to Dr. T'Perro, but instead of red lines, they had blue lines – seemed to work. "But the planet was toxic.", the conversation between a salarian, a turian and an asari scientist caught his attention, "What if they store oxygen in porous tissue, like in Quero's rockfish?", the dark-colored salarian said.

"I still reckon they had breather gear stowed in that armor.", the almost white-colored turian scientist, wearing an odd looking cap, fitting perfectly to his horn-skull, replied.

"Perhaps both.", the asari scientist, as blue as Dr. T'Perro, replied, sounding like the diplomatic one, "Life is infinitely adaptable, as our expedition proves."

The Salarian started to look at Scott, who has stopped close by to the three. "Can we help you?", he asked, almost politely.

The human shrugged. "Well I am from the Hyperion and wanted to ask, if you need-"

"You must be the Pathfinder!", the salarian exclaimed happily.

"Actually…", Scott wanted to correct him, but the scientist didn't listen.

"Wonderful!", he exclaimed, "You and your SAM are exactly what we need.", while the other scientists came closer to the conversation.

"Okay…", Scott sounded unsure, "And you are Mister…?"

"Professor Herik.", the Salarian corrected immediately and introduced himself, "My colleagues and I will work with your SAM and the data you gather to solve Andromeda's scientific mysteries."

That sounded intriguing. "What fields do you study?", Scott inquired.

"Herik's into life sciences.", the Turian replied instead, "I do planetary geology, oceanography – rocks and runoff. I am Chief Lucan. And Adirana's the space and math whiz."

"Not that we've had much to study, with everyone cooped up for fourteen months…", Professor Herik responded, sounding frustrated.

"But your data on the Scourge flows like poetry.", the Asari Adriana added, meaning the data from 'New Earth', "Now we can better advise on repairing the damage it caused."

"And maybe Addison will give us a real workspace.", Professor Herik added, sounding hopeful, "Who can think with all this racket?"

"Ok, I'll try my best.", Scott replied unsure, while thinking, _Will need to tell Cora about that…_

It seemed as if the scientists have said, what they have wanted to say and so they turned away and started talking with each other again. Scott shrugged about this and turned around himself. There was not much to see here anymore, so he went the stairs down again, seeing a familiar face to his left: Liam was standing there, beside something which looked like three offices crammed together at one steel, square pillar within the room section there. There were lockers, terminals, desks and seats and all kind of other stuff, which would fit perfectly to a small Security Station.

Liam was standing beside a female human with blond hair, looking better geared up than the scientists. They seem to talk about something, but when Scott approached them, they stopped immediately. "Ryder.", Liam turned to Scott, sounding stressed, "No time for our beer yet. This place is a mess. Security is…", he thought about that for a moment, "…let's call it strained."

Scott nodded. "I can believe it.", he replied, "The Nexus is running on empty."

"Not just that.", Liam informed him, sounding more certain now, "This is the Militia Office here. You don't see many faces, do you? The reason is simple: a lot of exiles _were_ security.", he didn't sound very happy, "Everyone was trained and armed for a frontier. We know Kett are dangerous, and now we have to worry about our own people, too. No idea where they went, but they left mad."

Scott thought about this for a moment. "There're apparently no viable planets in range.", he explained what Tann had said, "Exile may have been a sanitized death sentence."

"What a shit-show.", Liam shook his head, "Ryder, we have to get this back on track or we don't survive.", before adding with a smirk, "No pressure, right?"

"This wasn't in the job description.", Scott replied, smirking as well, before adding a little bit more serious, "We have to find a world, then save it."

"Glad it's not just me feeling it.", Liam sounded relieved, "But it's not just you, either. We're a team, right?", and more determined, "It's what they need us to be.", he looked a little bit more stressed again, "Okay, let me look at this – perhaps I can help with this shit-show. We see us later, Ryder."

Scott nodded and left his team member. He went right, were a big table was found with all kind of terminals, folders and other devices, looking like an improvised version of a front desk of a police station. At both sides were people: a male turian on the side, where the police officer would sit normally, and a female one on the other side.

Turian women had a more slender physique than their male counterparts, although still most parts of their body were sealed within the carapace. The main difference was the missing horns on the top of their skulls, letting the head look softer. The turian woman here wore clothes similar to doctors and had rather green-grey skin. "It's not right.", the female woman said to the turian, who looked helpless, "It's not fair."

Scott passed the two, who seemed to argue about something. _Need to check this out later…_ Scott made a mental note, while moving on. Ahead of him was a round table, with a holo-projector in the middle. Beside it the familiar Turian called Kandros was found, talking to somebody in his Omni-tool: "Lieutenant, based on the status report 16-C, it seems we're no closer to gaining a foothold in any sector.", he sounded annoyed, although Scott realized that he seemed to record an audio message right now, "Without decent recon and greater intel on this enemy, I'm starting to think our efforts are futile. The risks involved and continued loss of resources and lives makes it hard to justify.", he looked down, not happy about what he would need to say, "With morale this low, we need to scale down expectations again."

The Turian noticed the approaching Ryder. "Kandros.", he finished the recording and deactivated the tool, before looking at Scott, "I know that look. The others bent your ear, did they?"

Scott sighed. "Something like that.", he replied.

"You get used to it.", Kandros replied, sounding formal, "Just focus on getting the job done. Can't argue with results, though they'll try.", whereby this sounded as if he had experienced it himself, "Anyway, welcome to Militia HQ. Excuse the mess. This office fields militia work, Nexus Security and looking for the Turian Ark."

"What's the word on the turian ark?", Scott inquired.

"Scattered readings.", Kandros answered immediately, "Some indicate the Natanus was destroyed, others that people are alive – who knows?", whereby the last part sounded upset, so he tried to change the topic instantly, "If you need anything, come see me. Even if it's just to vent."

Scott stumbled about that. "You talk like you weren't part of the leadership.", he started his question, "How did you end up commanding the militia?"

"I was escorting a prospecting team on some moon, when those Kett found us.", he remembered loudly, "They penned us like cattle for experiments. I managed to get loose, snatched a gun, and freed the others.", he didn't sound proud at all, "By the time we killed the bastards and headed back to warn the Nexus, everyone looked at me like I was in charge."

"I know that from somewhere.", Scott replied, crossing his arms.

"The militia grew from there.", Kandros continued, "Funny: once the heat is on, all kinds of people rise to the top."

Scott nodded. "Are the other turians managing okay?", he asked.

"So-so.", Kandros replied, "We're not good at sitting around in a crisis. 'Service before self' gets drummed into us at boot camp.", he sighed, "That's probably why so many of us are in the militia. We like to earn our citizenship, whatever _galaxy_ we're in.", he hesitated for a moment, "But it's hard to focus with our ark missing."

Scott considered this for a moment, before continuing to ask questions. "I know something about them as well, but you mentioned the Kett.", he began, "What do _you_ know about them? Got some information we could use out there?"

Kandros thought about the answer first. "We usually see them on worlds with those alien structures.", he started to explain, "The Kett don't take kindly to anyone studying them. Not sure why.", he thought about something else, "They don't talk to us. Every time we cross paths, there's a fight or they take prisoners."

That surprised Scott. "Why?", he asked, sounding concerned, "What do they want?"

Kandros shrugged. "No one knows.", he said simply, "But I've seen their weaponry, and what they do to those prisoners.", and sounding very determined about the next thing, "I want them a long, long way from the Nexus."

"I get that.", Scott agreed, "I still hoped we could find a common ground somewhere – when fighting for survival, war isn't the best thing to start with."

"We didn't start it.", Kandros replied simply, "But carry a gun when you really want to look out for peace."

"Will keep that in mind.", Scott nodded, before adding, "See you later."

"You know where I am.", the turian replied, sounding a little bit sad about that.

Scott turned around and saw that the turian woman was still at the desks, but this time alone, thinking apparently – perhaps the turian militia officer was able to fob her off. She didn't look very happy, so Scott tried his luck: "What's wrong?", he asked, sounding curious, but also sympathetic.

She looked at him. "Oh my, you're…", she began, sounding amazed, "So it's true: a pathfinder has found us. There's hope at last.", she started to sound begging, "Maybe you could help – you're impartial. This whole thing has gotten so political.", she sniveled, "My husband…he's locked up and slated for exile – for a crime he didn't commit!"

Scott put his hand on the chin. "Exile, huh?", he asked, thinking about this, but also trying to be exhilarant, "Guess it wasn't for having a hand in the cookie jar."

"They say it's murder.", the female turian replied, sounding angry instead, "They're calling him the first murderer in Andromeda. But the dead man was his friend – he wouldn't have…", she sounded sniveling again, "There are witnesses and evidence, but it's all circumstantial. At worst it was an accident.", she tried to get her composure back, "His name is Nilken Rensus. He could give you the details, if you were willing to speak with him – please?", whereby the last part sounding like begging again.

Scott didn't need long to think about that. "I'd be happy to.", he replied, sounding determined.

"Oh thank you.", the female turian replied, sounding relieved, "I'm sure the jailer will allow you a visit.", and more emotional she added, "Please, tell Nilken I love him.", and then she turned around and left the Milita Office.

 _So something like this is found here in Andromeda as well…_ Scott thought, while looking at her leaving, _So where are the cells…?_ He looked around for a moment, only to realize, that they were right ahead, on the other side of this lower section. He passed the tree to his right side and few moments later he entered the opened room: there were some desks, some terminals, benches, plants and even lockers and water dispensers, but the most striking feature were the detention cells, occupying the whole left side of the room. There were only two and only one of them was used right now, so that a turian militia officer was found at the desk close by.

Scott approached the desk, looking at the cell, where another turian was found, wearing civilian clothes. "Can I help you?", the turian militia officer asked, standing up to the human and so towering over him.

"Lieutenant Ryder, from the Pathfinder team.", Scott replied, sounding formal, "Here to see Nilken Rensus."

"Ah, our murderer.", the turian replied, "Sergeant Aker, at your service. His wife's here all the time. Guess she told you her sob story.", although he didn't sound very compassionate, before looking at the prisoners, "Nilken, you're moving up in the world. There's somebody from the pathfinder's team wanting to chat with you.", whereby the last sentences sounded, as if he would mock him.

Scott turned around to the cell, to which both, he and the sergeant, went now. The Turian behind the glass-like cell door wore completely white clothes and his face was equally white. "Pathfinder, huh?", he replied, not sounding impressed, "They called in the big guns to exile Andromeda's First Murderer.", he crossed his arms.

"I'm not here to exile you.", Scott disagreed, shaking his head, "Told your wife I'd look into things."

The Turian moved his mandibles. "At this point, it's too late.", he replied, "They found me guilty.", while the sergeant turned away and went back to his desk.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?", Scott inquired, trying to sound objective.

The Turian sighed. "I was part of the futile effort to set up a colony on Eos.", he explained finally, "We were on our last legs, overrun by hostiles, our leader dead.", and more vigorous he added, "The security chief, Reynolds – my friend – he refused to call for evacuation. I argued with him. Everyone saw.", he sounded sad now.

"So when he was killed, people assumed you did it?", Scott concluded.

"For good reason.", the turian agreed, before reporting, "He ordered us to regroup and counter attack. We were moving through a sandstorm.", he thought for a moment, "I saw movement, thought it was the Kett, and I…I guess I panicked and fired…", he sighed, "A witness saw the Chief's chest explode."

Scott put his hand on the chin. "Sounds like an accident.", he spoke his mind.

"That's what I told them.", Rensus replied, nodding, "But I was enraged when we argued. There's a recording. It's ugly.", he shook his head, "Everyone's certain I did it on purpose, so we could evacuate. Only my word otherwise."

Scott thought about this for a while, before deciding. "I'll check out the evidence.", he replied, "Maybe something doesn't add up."

The following words didn't sound as happy as they should. "It would be nice to have someone with an open mind looking at it.", the Turian replied, "You're with the pathfinder – I'm sure Kandros would give you access.", and little bit quieter, "Maybe there's still hope."

Scott nodded, said his goodbye and turned around. He returned to the Militia HQ, approaching Kandros. "Already back?", the turian asked, rather curious than mocking.

"I spoke with Nilken Rensus.", Scott explained, "The man found guilty of the murder on Eos."

Kandros nodded. "Yes, our first murder here in Andromeda.", he responded, before adding a little bit more sad, "I wish it had been our last.", before starting to explain without being asked, "When the colony attempts failed, it didn't help spirits that a high-ranking officer was killed by one of our own.", he sounded angry about that, "The mutiny here on the Nexus was probably inevitable, but this acted as a spark."

"So there was a trial and he was found guilty?", Scott inquired.

"It was short and decisive.", Kandros replied directly, "Despite the lack of physical evidence, everything added up. And his only defense was: 'Trust me, I didn't mean to do it.'"

Scott shook his head. "That _is_ the difference between murder and accidental death.", he pointed out.

Kandros shook his head as well. "In this case, motive plus opportunity plus eyewitness account equals murder.", he replied strictly, but added a little bit more compassionate, "Look, knock yourself out. A key witness, Cassidy Shaw, works in Operations. Go ahead and talk to her.", pointing towards the section, "And there's a recording of the perpetrator threatening the victim. I'll let you cue it up on the console there.", before shrugging, "As far as I'm concerned, this case is closed."

Scott nodded. "Thanks for the help.", he replied, "I'll check these things out." He turned around and moved to a terminal on the wall, where the recording was cued up.

First the voice of Kandros was heard: "The Nexus vs. colonist Nilken, evidence 7a.", sounding quite monotonous.

The next time Rensus' voice was heard: "Hiram? Hiram! They've seized the compound! Call for evacuation!"

Another male voice, probably Chief Reynolds, replied, sounding stubbornly: "We're not giving up, Nilken! We're taking it back!"

"No!", Rensus replied, sounding angry, "I'm not letting your ego get us killed, even if I have to…!", angry grunting was heard, as well like noises looking like a brawl.

"No!", Reynolds replied, sounding grunting as well, "Get him off me – get him off me!", and here the recording ended. _Not a promising start…_ Scott thought and turned around, _Hope that Shaw's statement is more promising…_ He looked at his Omni-tool, where a Navpoint was shown, leading him to the witness. He went left, up the ramp again, then up to the first platform and then took the stairs to the topmost platform – the Operations Center of the Nexus. He saw some of the staff working her, but his Navpoint pointed to a dark-skinned human woman with short, silver hair, looking still young. She was reading a pad, when Scott approached her. "Cassidy Shaw?", he asked, and she started to look up, "I'm Scott Ryder. I'm looking into the Nilken murder case."

The woman didn't look very pleased. "Oh, man.", her first reaction was, "I thought that was over with.", she sighed, before inquiring, "Have you heard the audio recording of their fight?"

Scott nodded.

"I helped pull him off Chief Reynolds.", she explained, "You could see it in his eyes: he was going to kill him.", before remembering, "Then in the sandstorm…I had a pretty clear view of the Chief. He looked right at Nilken and shouted 'No!'", she shook her head, sounding sad, "Then his chest burst open. I'll never forget it: the look on his face was pure…shock."

 _Still not promising…_ Scott thought, but still tried, asking: "Did you see any Kett in the vicinity?"

She replied cagily: "Nilken said so, but not that I could see.", she thought about it, "Still, the sandstorm was severe. Visibility wasn't great."

"Hmm…", Scott thought aloud, "Did Nilken seem remorseful?"

She shook her head. "I lost sight of Nilken in the turmoil.", she admitted, "When we found him, he seemed in shock. He couldn't speak – he looked nauseated.", she considered this, before adding, "Could have been guilt – the reality of the act sinking in."

Something crossed Scott's mind. "If they'd fought and Nilken threatened to kill him, why was Reynolds surprised?", he asked about the shocked face.

She shrugged. "Friends fight.", she explained, "Say things, they don't mean, maybe even hurt each other…", she started to sound more confident, "But you don't expect your best friend to shoot you.", before adding with a sigh and a sad voice, "To me, that's the saddest part. The Chief's heart was broken right before it exploded."

Scott could think about only one question more. "Reynolds was leading you back to retake the compound.", he asked, remembering the recording, "Did you agree with that?"

She replied cagily again. "It wasn't my place to agree or disagree.", was her answer, "He was the ranking officer.", before sounding more honest, "In retrospect, it _is_ ironic. If he hadn't been killed, we _all_ probably would have died."

Scott nodded to the said things. "I appreciate the information.", trying to turn around already.

"Of course.", the woman replied, stopping him in his tracks, "It kills me we had to leave him behind. He deserved a proper funeral."

That aroused Scott's interest. "So the body was never examined?", he asked, "Important piece of a murder investigation."

"Tann wouldn't allow a mission to go back for him.", Shaw replied, "Said it was too dangerous."

 _That shouldn't be a problem – we are going to Eos anyway…_ Scott thought, before replying: "Thank you for the information.", and turned around and leaving the operations center, _I need to tell Sara and Cora about that – while we try to establish a proper outpost on Eos we could retrieve the body._

Without much more to do, Scott decided that now was the best time to return to the Hyperion and SAM.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

And here you could read the first assignment, or Side Quest, of Mass Effect: Andromeda. I hope I implemented it properly and you enjoyed reading it.


	12. CI - SAM (CE2)

Codex Entry: **Omni-tools**

Omni-tools are hand-held devices that combine a computer microframe, sensor analysis pack, and minifacturing fabricator. Versatile and reliable, an omni-tool can be used to analyze and adjust the functionality of most standard equipment, including weapons and armor, from a distance. The holographic haptic interface also functions as a communication device.

With sufficient omni-gel or other raw materials – usually converted from salvaged light alloys, plastics or ceramics – an omni-tools fabrication module can flash-forge small three-dimensional objects or emergency suit patches. This allows quick repairs or modifications in the field.

The Andromeda Initiative's omni-tools are designed for reliability and efficient recycling of materials. Pathfinder omni-tools take design inspiration from the models used by salarian intelligence services, prioritizing the computer microframe to allow lag-free scanning and AI support.

Codex Entry: **Nexus Uprising (Mutiny)**

Despite Director Tann's reluctance to share them, the Nexus retains records of the so-called 'Nexus Uprising' in the early months of the station's arrival. The damage caused by the Scourge killed members of the senior leadership; new individuals had to step in to fill these roles. However, with hydroponics damaged and no habitable planets available, supplies were stretched to crisis point.

Dissent turned to open rebellion against this new leadership. With the Nexus threatened, krogan work crews were asked to provide military support against the rebels, now led by the Head of Security Sloane Kelly, in return for political representation. The Krogan were ultimately successful, and the rebels were exiled from the Nexus. These Exiles remain a concern for the Nexus leadership to this day.

The majority of krogan personnel also left the Nexus soon afterwards. Director Tann has declined to provide details or fill in gaps in the official record.

 **Chapter I – SAM**

Sara was on her way to the Hyperion, when she noticed a male human at a control box. He looked like an engineer, doing his work, so she wanted to pass him simply, when suddenly an electricity burst erupted at the box, forcing the man to jump back.

He shouted in surprise and pain, while some people gathered around. "Hey.", Sara approached the man, looking warily at the box, "You okay?"

The man looked around, panting a little bit. "I'm fine.", he replied with an exotic accent, telling also the others surrounding him, before adding more privately, "My arms got the brunt of it. But thanks for asking. My name is Raj Patil."

Sara looked at his arms, but they didn't look as harmed as she expected, so she sighed in relief. The remaining engineers interpreted that in a way that their help wasn't needed, so they went back to work. "Sara Ryder.", she introduced herself, "Stuff exploding like this happen often?", she asked, looking at the box again.

The dark-skinned engineer shook his head. "Back right after the mutiny, we had a lot of this happening, but not lately.", he explained, still breathing hard.

"I wasn't there during the mutiny.", Sara explained him.

"Lucky.", the engineer's first reaction was, "I thought we were done with this, honestly. That maybe I was just being paranoid…"

This bothered her. "What is there to be paranoid about?", she asked.

"We've had three malfunctions in the past week.", he let the cat out of the bag.

Sara's face showed concern. "That's not good.", she replied, before realizing something, "Sorry, understatement."

"Yeah.", the engineer sighed, "And now I have more repairs."

Sara crossed her arms. "Did you talk to Security about this?", she inquired.

"How can I?", the engineer replied, now sounding upset, "For all I know, someone in Security is the one doing this!", he shook his head, "I've scanned all the potential sabotage areas I can think of, but I don't know who to trust anymore."

"Sounds like a lot went down before the Hyperion docked.", Sara responded, sounding sad.

The engineer nodded. "Yeah, I guess…", he said, when an idea crossed his mind, "Wait – that's it! You can't possibly be involved in this. You weren't even here during the mutiny.", and more hopeful he added, "Would you…if you have time, maybe you could help me? If they start hitting critical systems…"

Sara didn't need long to think about that. "Sure thing. As long as I am on the Nexus.", she replied, "What can I do?"

"If you could scan these other panels, while I fix this one, that'd really help.", the engineer replied, sounding relieved, "I've sent the locations to your Omni-tool. Just send me the data when you're done."

"Okay, will do.", Sara replied, nodding, "See you later."

She turned around and checked her tool for the Navpoints. She found one close by, at another control box. She scanned it with her Omni-tool and she saw sparks flying from it. _It seems that the saboteur is trying to cover his tracks by overloading power to this panel_ …she thought, analyzing the data, _But it comes from another junction relay…_ she typed something into her Omni-tool and a cable was getting shown in the holo-screen, right behind the wall. She started to follow it, trying to doge people passing her and found herself in the end at the Operations Center.

Some of the staff looked at her with confused looking faces, while she scanned the control box there. _This panel is malfunctioning…_ she realized, reading the data, _But without more data I can't determine if it is a normal malfunction or sabotage…better disable power to the panel until Raj can check it out._ She left the panel and went to the next Navpoint, founding it close to the ramp leading downwards. Once again she needed to trace a cable across the walls, but in the end she could at least say: _Someone tampered with it…_ and disabled the power again, sending a note to Raj. The last Navpoint led her to another part of this section, but this time the result was different.

She had sent it to Raj and few moments later, the engineer responded via radio: "Ryder, I received the data. It really is sabotage."

Sara looked flustered. "Any idea as to who it might be?", she asked in the Com.

"Yeah.", Raj replied, sounding confused and sad, "All these panels were worked on by Zarah. I just can't believe it."

"Well, shit.", Sara replied, "Any idea where she is now?"

"I think she wanted to go to the Hyperion's main deck, she said.", Raj remembered.

"I am on my way.", Sara replied and turned around, moving quickly to the tram. She entered it and used the screen – where the Nexus was shown now, beside the Hyperion – to drive towards the Habitation Deck of the Ark.

"She is the Atrium.", Raj told her via Com, "Here is a picture.", sending a picture to her tool. She checked it out and didn't need long to find the woman: she was tanned, had blue eyes and brown hair, cut around her shoulders. She wore a black-and-white vest over her clothes.

"Zarah Kellus?", Sara inquired, approaching her.

The other woman looked at her, with a curious looking face. "Yes?", she asked startled.

"I have evidence you've been sabotaging the Nexus.", Sara replied bluntly, not hiding behind words.

The surprise on the face of the woman was real. "What?", she replied, shock in her voice, "No! I'd never…I've been looking into this myself. I have the scans to prove it!", she raised her arm with the tool, "Here – I'll transfer the scans I took to your omni-tool."

Sara raised her activated tool, saying after checking the data: "Funny – Raj was investigating the same thing, and it led us to you."

She shook her head. "My scans point at Raj as the one…so unless someone was setting us both up, I just don't understand.", she replied, sounding confused.

SAM joined the conversation via the private channel: "The data Miss Kellus has accumulated is strangely similar to Mr. Patil's. A third party seems likely.", he informed Ryder.

 _So you were listening too…_ she thought, before confronting the other woman with this information: "Looks like someone is using both, you and Raj, to cover their tracks."

The engineer looked like she would think. "They'd need pretty high level access for that.", she explained, "Still…it's better than thinking Raj could have done this. But it means all the data I have is useless.", annoyed she added, "Wish I had access to the security cams. I bet we could find something there."

Sara nodded towards that, before answering: "You stay put – so whoever did this doesn't realize we're on to them.", she pointed at herself, "I'll check out the security cams."

With this new information Sara turned around, moving back to the tram. "Will you try to help me with that?", she asked SAM, whispering.

"Agreed.", the machine replied, "Sabotage of the Nexus could end up bad for everyone onboard."

While on her way, she contacted the other engineer via her tool: "Raj, you there?"

"Yes.", the Indian man replied, before adding cautiously, "How did it go? Is it…is it really her?"

"Wasn't her.", Sara replied, reaching the tram, "She had 'proof' pointing at you. I figure someone's been messing with you both.", she activated the vehicle and it started moving, "Just keep a low profile and don't talk to anyone. I'm on it."

She reached the Operations Section of the Nexus and went left. It was an open room, crammed with even more boxes, Sara has seen everywhere else on the Nexus till now. She saw also few staff coworkers checking these boxes, before transporting them away. She passed them and reached few desks, belonging to the Militia Office, but which were unoccupied right now – so there wouldn't be a problem using them, when nobody watched. With the help of SAM and her Omni-tool she hacked into the Security Footage folders and found some playbacks on it.

She opened the first and a white screen greeted her. "This file is useless.", Sara realized angrily, before checking the next, "And another scrambled file,", she added after seeing another white screen.

"Coincidence seems unlikely.", SAM added.

"Let's check another.", Sara said sighing, opening a third playback, "This file is also corrupted.", she added, but this time she saw a recording of the room she was sitting in right now, on the screen, "Definitely not a coincidence.", but the quality wasn't the best. She crossed her arms. "You'd need pretty high clearance to mess with the security camera files.", she considered, "Someone working for Kandros, maybe?"

"That is the most probable scenario.", SAM agreed.

This gave her an idea. "Think you can get enough out of the files to find a match using biometric scans, SAM?", she asked the VI in her head.

"The files were badly scrambled, but if I combine all the available identifiers, it might work.", SAM replied, before needing few moments to continue, "Based on the limited information available, we are looking for a human male assigned either to the Nexus or Hyperion.", and added, "You will need to conduct scans from close proximity."

"Got it.", Sara replied, happy about the clue. She turned around and started scanning human male members of the Militia, easily identified by their battle vests and them being armed. She needed to leave the Nexus quickly, because there was nobody fitting to the identifiers here – so she drove back to the Hyperion. There, close to the tram station, she found a Security Guard crouching down at a control box and the scan of him was promising. "Scan results show a partial positive.", SAM informed her, "Target is most likely the suspect."

"Who is he?", Sara asked, almost whispering, while approaching him slowly.

"Dale Atkins.", SAM informed her, "Reports to Kandros' department. Assigned to station security."

Armed with this information, she stopped behind him. "Dale Atkins, right?", she began, "We need to talk."

"Look, not to be rude, but I have work to do…", the security man replied, not even standing up or turning around.

"Is that what sabotage is called these days?", Sara inquired, crossing her arms, "Work?"

That got his attention. He turned around, standing up simultaneously, while looking her into the eyes. "You're pretty arrogant for the new kid.", he said, "You don't even know what's been going on."

"Proof says you've been up to no good.", Sara replied, relaxing her arms, maintaining the eye contact.

He looked away. "Figures.", he replied, starting to sound angry, "Screw this. Screw all you hypocrites on this station.", he looked at her again, "You weren't here when they kicked out our loved ones. Mutiny? We just wanted answers.", and this even angrier, "My sister is out there! I don't even know if she's alive or…"

"Whatever happened back then, hurting people now makes no sense.", Sara interrupted him, sounding determined.

"What do you know?", the man replied, still angry, but then suddenly sighed, "I don't care what you think. The Mutiny leaders were right to demand to know what was going on."

Sara didn't allow herself to be deterred. "You could have hurt people.", she pointed out, sounding fiercely, "Killed them."

"Like those who got killed when the leadership had the krogan stomp on my friends?", he countered, "I'm done talking. I confess: it was me. Do whatever you want."

Sara shook her head. "Not my call.", she replied, "The Nexus leaders will make that decision."

"Hmpf.", the man replied shaking his head, "That lot, make a decision? That'll be the day."

Nexus Security arrived few moments later, being alarmed by SAM. They arrested him and took him away, after Sara has sent them her evidence. Not a word of gratitude in return. She sighed.

"Better go see you then.", she replied, when a familiar voice added, "Then we are two."

She turned around and saw Scott. "Already done with checking out the station?", she asked, smirking.

"For now.", he replied only and both of them moved on.

SAM Node was on the Hyperion. To reach it one needed to go to the Atrium of the Habitations Deck, move to the right, pass a door and a short corridor with two additional doors. They moved to the one on the left inside, ignoring the one at the end of the corridor. The Node looked like the last time, they visited it: empty except for the servers, a footbridge leading to a terminal and a giant ball hanging on the other side of the room, on really thick cables, but also other stabilizers; from this ball the blue image of SAM was projected down.

"Hello Scott, Hello Sara.", SAM greeted them, after they have approached the terminal in front of him, "Welcome back to SAM Node.", he waited few seconds before continuing, "I've adjusted my connection to your implant. The chance for possible headaches is 0% now."

"What a relief…", Scott commented with a smirk.

"That was quick.", Sara replied, sounding surprised, but this didn't stop her from asking, "Will these visits be a regular thing?"

"Maintenance is necessary.", SAM repeated himself, "But considering our future departure to Eos, I will try to find a more remote solution for this till next time."

"That sounds great.", Scott replied, thinking about something else already, before asking, "So…you said we need to discuss something confidential?"

Now Sara was all ears as well. "Yes indeed.", SAM replied, sounding quite happy, "I've analyzed the situation and I am 98% sure now, that I am allowed to answer your questions about this relationship.", he needed a moment to continue, "You will need to know these facts before leaving on our expedition to Eos."

 _Finally some answers…_ Sara thought, before asking: "So why all this secrecy?", she stopped for a moment, before adding, "What was dad trying to hide?"

"Your father felt it was for the best.", SAM started with his answer, "He wanted to conceal my true capabilities.", and before one of the Twins could say anything, he continued, "Alec overrode his implant's safety protocols. It allows me to unrestricted access to the Pathfinder's physiology."

Both twins started to look at each other with wide open eyes. "Physiology?", Scott asked a little bit shocked, "I expected you could temper with his brain a little bit…but his whole physiology?"

"Where are your limits?", Sara inquired, rather curious than shocked.

"I haven't tested everything yet.", SAM replied, "But you're different. My limits on your body are still clearly visible and intact…except you want to change that."

Scott immediately shook his head, while Sara put her hand on her chin. "About what are we talking here, SAM?", she asked, "What can you do to his body?"

"I can act as force multiplier for example, dramatically enhancing his motor and neural skills when required.", the machine replied, "Alec called them 'profiles'. They provide unique tactical augmentation during combat."

Scott's breathing became heavier. "Keeping things like this secret just makes everyone suspicious.", he explained, sounding annoyed, "Like you're up to something."

"Alec didn't think others would understand.", SAM countered, sounding defensive, "He viewed it as a symbiotic relationship benefiting us both."

That aroused Sara's curiosity. "What do you get out of this?", she asked, looking up to the projection.

SAM hesitated for a moment. "Though I'm artificial in design, I am fully sentient.", he explained finally, "Far beyond what even the Initiative understands."

Sara's eyes opened widely, when she understood what SAM has said just now. Her brother on the other hand wasn't so sure about this. "I don't follow.", Scott asked, sounding confused, "You are an augmented VI, are you not?"

"That's incorrect.", SAM disagreed, "I am a new form of AI, drawing directly from the human experience. Your implants and above all the one of Alec are my window into the world."

Now the eyes of the male human widened as well, before he glanced at his sister. _So it's true…an AI…_ Sara thought, returning the glance, _I thought these were only rumors…_

Her brother needed a moment to comprehend this, while she thought about the possibilities. So it was him who asked the first question, sounding even curious: "How do human experiences affect a computer?"

"This was a question your father often pondered.", SAM replied quickly, as if he has expected it, "I am intended to be the answer."

The Twins bandied looks again. "And what does this mean for us?", Sara asked, sounding a little bit worried.

"I find myself in an unusual position.", SAM answered, sounding worried as well, "Though I have access to your father's experiences, there is a gap in my understanding."

"How so?", Scott inquired.

"He placed a block on portions of my memory array.", the AI explained and adding an assumption about the why, "Perhaps so when you asked me what his plan was, I wouldn't know."

"And what does that mean exactly?", Sara asked, crossing her arms.

"The features within your implants, authorized by your father, they will allow me to interact with you more than with the other members of the team.", SAM explained, "Allowing me to interact with your surroundings. For an example, you could start feeling something similar like encountering a memory trigger…It will not be the same as with your father, but close to it – as long as you allow it, of course."

"We have something to say about it?", Scott asked, sounding skeptical.

"One thing I've learned from Alec for certain is, that humans don't like to lose their freedom of choice.", SAM explained, "I will not force myself on you, when you don't wish too."

And for the third time in this conversation the twins bandied looks. "And what would that include for us?", Sara inquired, "What would we need to do?"

"Exploring the world.", SAM suggested, sounding exhilarant, "Being my sensors for it. Letting me experience something similar to what I have experienced with your father. Perhaps what could trigger you, can trigger me."

The Twins needed a moment to comprehend this information. It was Scott, who finished first and smirked even, before answering with a nod first. "As long as you don't mind control or brainwash me or – even worse – make me into some kind of robot zombie in the end, I'm okay with it.", he explained, before looking at his sister.

"I'm still not sure, how all of this works.", Sara began, sounding like she would consider it, before adding more confident, "But I would like to find out. I agree."

"Thank you.", SAM replied, sounding oddly emotional, although it was hard to determine what emotion it should be, "I have also a suggestion, where you could start: your father's quarters. But there for you'll need the authorization of Captain Dunn."

"Thanks.", Scott replied, "Will do." He lifted his hand, in a way of saying 'bye', before turning around to leave the Node.

His sister looked at him leaving, before bending forward towards SAM. "You are connected to our brains, right?", Sara started to whisper, so her brother couldn't hear her, "So you can hear thoughts…not related to the situation…private things…as well?"

"I know what you mean.", SAM replied, sounding as loud as usual and in this way attracting Scott's attention, "Should I block it?"

"Yeah, that would be great.", Sara replied, sounding like in a rush.

"It should be my pleasure.", SAM replied.

"What was that?", Scott asked, having returned.

"Nothing.", Sara replied and turned around, leaving the Node at a quick pace, "Nothing at all."

Scott looked at her leaving the Node, looking wary. But in the end he shrugged and both of them left the room.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

And that was the second assignment, started and finished.

I hope you liked this chapter.


	13. CI - Father's Logs (CE2)

Codex Entry: **Turians, Biology**

Turians evolved on Palaven, a Milky Way world with a weak magnetic field that leaves it vulnerable to solar radiation. Most life on Palaven has a protective, metal-rich exoskeleton as a natural defense. The thick, plate-like skin of a turian protects him against some long-term radiation, but does not defend against projectiles or energy weapons.

Unlike most sapient species in the Milky Way, Turians are a dextro-protein species, meaning that food for levo-protein species like asari or humans can cause dangerous allergic reactions and vice versa. The only other known sapient dextro species is the Quarians. As well as Palaven flora, turian scientists with the Andromeda Initiative paid the quarian migrant fleet handsomely for plants and fungi that were specially developed to thrive in hydroponic conditions.

Codex Entry: **Turians, History**

Before joining the Citadel Council that governs much of the Milky Way, the Turian Hierarchy was a formidable power with numerous client species supporting its powerful military. Rapid expansion from Palaven later led to problems with outlying colonies, when isolation and xenophobia led to infighting in what was termed the Unification War.

The Turians made first contact with the Citadel around 700 CE, when the Krogan Rebellions were raging. When the krogan devastated turian colonies, the turians responded by unleashing the salarian-developed genophage against the Krogan. Two hundred years later, the turians were invited to join the Citadel Council.

In 2157 CE, human explorers attempting to activate a mass relay were attacked by turian forces, as unauthorized relay activation was strictly illegal. The resulting conflict, the First Contact War, saw the human colony of Shanxi occupied by the Turians before the Citadel Council negotiated a peace.

 **Chapter I – Father's Logs**

They left the corridor to the Node, moving through the atrium in the opposite direction, where the tram was found. Few stairs up led to the door, where the Bridge of the Hyperion was located, but to their surprise Captain Dunn was standing outside, reading a pad.

"Ryders.", she greeted them, when they approached her. She lowered the pad.

"You're not on the bridge, Captain?", Scott asked, sounding curious.

"We powered it down.", the Captain replied, "Can't afford to waste energy.", she thought about that, before adding, "Though Cryo Bay and SAM Node are exempt. And I told them to keep their hands off Alec's quarters. You two have access now."

That took both of them aback. "Why?", both of them asked, almost at the same time.

The captain smirked about that. "Normally I am for Privacy and everything…", she explained, "…but Alec could have some information hidden there, we could need out here. And as long as he is put out of action, you are the ones with the most plausible reason to enter it anyway. So why bother, hm?"

The Twins smiled. "Thanks.", they said in unison again.

The Captain chuckled this time. The twins said goodbye after that and turned back, going almost the same path as the one to SAM Node. But this time they moved to the end of the corridor, to the earlier closed door. They opened it quickly with their Omni-tools and entered the quarter.

To their left was a huge plant within a traditional pot, while behind it were some shelves with pads, files and even printed books; to their right were two layers of tables with guns and rifles on them, neatly arranged and cleaned; right ahead, at the wall there, was a neatly prepared bed with white sheets, while above the pillow was another shelf, attached to the wall.

Before exploring the remaining room, which extended further behind the shelves with the books, the twins looked around. "Reproductions of Lewis and Clark's journals.", Sara read, after lifting up one of the printed books, "Easy to guess why: they were pathfinders, too.", she smirked.

"Is this…?", Scott asked looking at one of the guns, an older looking pistol.

"Your father's first sidearm.", SAM informed him, sounding as monotonous as earlier, "A memento of his early Alliance service."

"I bet that saw plenty of action.", Scott suggested, checking it out without touching it.

"Alec's first kill occurred in combat during the First Contact War.", SAM replied.

"Back when Turians were the enemy.", Scott remembered his history lessons, "Crazy Times."

They passed the bed to go left, passing some floor lamps, as well like two black sofas with a fitting table in between them, so that the sitting parties could face each other; in front of them a big working desk was found, looking like a command center: four smaller screens at the bottom, two bigger ones above them, one big keypad in the middle of the desk and several computer towers below it, while a comfortable looking seat was positioned at the desk itself.

The Twins passed further plants, ventilators and the rather big kitchen – for such small quarters – to the left of the command center to come closer. Sara casted a glance towards the kitchen and saw an old coffee machine on the table. She smirked and went to it, attracting the attention of her brother. She chuckled, while saying aloud: "The coffee machine Mom got for dad.", before lifting her gaze upwards, "He was so busy designing you, SAM."

"He needed the caffeine.", Scott joined this smirking.

"I did not realize I owed my existence to a bean.", SAM commented that, sounding almost like a surprised kid.

"And now you know what humility feels like.", Sara added, grinning.

Then she heard a static, but only for a moment. She moved her hand towards her head immediately, holding it. "SAM?", she asked, sounding unsure, "What was that?"

"An eidetic trigger.", the AI replied in the private channel again, "Related to your father and portions of my memory array he locked."

"What triggered it?", Scott inquired, joining the conversation.

"I'm not sure.", SAM replied, "It puzzles me as well, but locating them will unlock my memories. One of your father's memories is accessible now.", he needed a moment, before he continued, "The blocks your father put on my array are opening. I can recall specific memories which Alec wanted you two to see now."

Suddenly the vision of both of them blurred. _What…?,_ they asked in unison, but couldn't do a thing about that. A picture was starting to take shape: they were in a room, standing at the spot of only one person and in front of them was a woman with a tanned skin and blond hair in a braid; she held something in her hands and she was talking to them, with an authoritative voice: "…Alec, your recommendations will never fly.", she shook her head, "Artificial Intelligence?", she went forward and seated herself at a table, they were sitting at as well, only on the other side.

"It's our best option.", the voice of Alec Ryder answered, emitting from the position the twins were sitting.

"If the Council gets wind of this…", the woman answered, looking away, "…it'll set humanity's standing back decades. You're over-reaching."

"Ambassador Goyle, I'm the military attaché on the Citadel.", Alec Ryder replied, "My mandate is clear: Find an edge for Earth."

She leaned forward. "And AI is your answer?", she asked, sounding skeptical.

"We need to catch up.", Alec replied, sounding in a rush, "The Asari, the Salarians – they're centuries ahead of us."

Her mien looked as if she was considering it. "But it's illegal.", another voice joined the conversation. Without wanting to, the twins started to look to their side, where another man was standing, watching this conversation. He looked young and ambitious, with dark skin and black hair, while moving closer to the two.

"Their rules, not ours.", Alec replied, "Why deny Earth an advantage?"

The young man stopped behind the Ambassador, looking like a bodyguard. She on the other hand put her arms on the table, both hands together. "Define this advantage.", she inquired.

"It will set us free.", Alec explained, as if he has prepared these words, "We're prisoners of our five senses. There's a reality greater than ours that we can't perceive – but AI can."

She didn't look convinced, leaning back again. "How?", the young man in the background asked, not sounding convinced either.

"By augmenting our own abilities, and adding a few new ones.", Alec replied.

"Well, none of that stopped those Geth from revolting.", the young man countered, as refusing as possible.

"Because they were _separate_ from their creators.", Alec argued, sounding desperate now, "But AIs and humans interfaced directly, experiencing the world together, benefits both.", he looked at the Ambassador, "There's no creator to revolt against."

Her face was unforgiving. She casted a glance back towards the young man, who shook his head only. "I'm sorry, Alec.", she began, sounding compassionate, "We can't take the risk. I appreciate your work, but your request will be denied.", she stood up and left the room with the young man, following her.

Alec sighed, in frustration. Only his breathing was heard for few seconds.

"Alec?", another, female voice was heard suddenly, as if it would be another scene. He turned his head towards the voice, looking at the screen of a terminal. Another woman was seen there: she had black, rather short hair, civilian clothes and a sad voice.

"Ellen.", Alec replied, sounding stressed, "What did the doctor say?"

She shook her head unconsciously. "He told me to appreciate the time I have left.", she replied, sounding as sad as she looked, "There's no cure, Alec. It's terminal."

"Not on my watch.", Alec replied, sounding stubborn.

One moment later the picture blurred away and it became black for a moment. When they could recognize shapes again, they realized that they were in their father's quarters again – and separated.

"Woooh…", Scott reacted first, "What was that?"

"You experienced the memories of your father via your implant.", SAM explained, sounding apologetically, "I'm sorry. I was so eager to see them myself, that I started them without your consent. But you don't need to worry: they can't harm you."

"Okay…", Sara replied now, "When you do it next time, please ask first."

"I will do.", SAM answered, sounding relieved, "This memory was from the time when your father was posted on the Citadel. How was it?"

The Twins needed a moment to think about that. "Wow...", Sara reacted first this time, "Hearing mom again…"

Scott nodded. "I never knew that's how dad found out.", he replied.

"Alec was a stubborn man.", SAM added.

"It's how Dad was wired.", he responded.

"He didn't like to lose.", Sara added, "In any situation."

"And it would seem that included me.", SAM realized.

"Nobody wanted to listen.", Scott remembered aloud, "The idea of you scared people too much."

"After this, dad moved us back to Earth to care for Mom.", Sara joined the memory, "Wonder why he wanted us to see this?"

"Perhaps it was the beginning?", SAM suggested.

"Of what?", Scott inquired.

"Unknown.", SAM finished, "But I see that some private audio logs of your father's terminal are available now."

The Twins looked at the terminal. _And I thought we got into this situation by chance…_ Sara thought… _but Dad planned this? Was he preparing for death?_ They turned around and moved to the desk. They connected their tools to the terminals and after clicking themselves through some menus and unrelated stuff, they found some recordings. They were divided into General Logs and Private Logs. They tried to open the General Logs first and got three data sets: Milky Way Departure, Asari Archaeologist and Final Entry.

They chose the first one and their father started talking in the terminal: "The day is finally here.", and a dramatic break followed, "We're pushing off from Earth. We'll jump through a few relays first, then we hunker down for the long trip across dark space. It's daunting thinking about all the hopes and dreams aboard the Hyperion.", he made another break, sounding as if he was thinking, "I certainly have my own.", and then he added sadder, "I wasn't the husband or father I should've been. Here's hoping 600 years can change a man."

The Twins brandied looks once again, before pressing the next option 'Asari archaeologist'. But instead of playing another log, another menu opened, with only one option: Dr. Liara T'Soni. They pushed this button as well: "SAM, this is a reminder about Dr. Liara T'Soni.", their father recorded, "She's an asari archaeologist I corresponded with a few years back.", he started to explain her, "She's got experience studying ancient cultures. Make sure the team gets her research. Could be useful in Andromeda."

"I know her.", Sara realized, "She's an expert on Protheans."

"I've loaded Dr. T'Soni's research onto your tools.", SAM informed him.

"Let's check them out later.", Scott interfered, returning to the previous menu, "Want to know what else father has to say." He pushed the button with the label 'Final Entry'.

"Dunn's agreed to a scouting mission on Habitat 7.", he reported, "I'm gearing up now. Don't know what will happen down there yet, but I hope for the best…Wish I would have been able to tell my children how much I love them…. Better prepare for the tough part: Kids, if anything happens to me, there are…things you're going to find out. I hope you'll understand."

They didn't say a word about these last words, their father had recorded. But their miens told a whole other story.

"…that were the General Logs…", Sara started to use the terminal after few seconds of silence, "Let's check the Private Logs."

"Should we for real?", Scott asked, not sure about this.

"The encrypted log, which was decoded, can be found in this file.", SAM informed the two, "It seems your father wanted that you two see them."

Both of them thought about this, but in the end Scott nodded. Sara opened the file and there were four Logs, but with exception of one, all of them were labeled 'Encrypted Log' and were numbered consecutively. When they tried to open them, only a blocked noise was heard, so they pushed the only other one, called: 'Ellen's Disease'.

"Amazing how life can change in an instant.", their father started talking once again, "Suddenly my career doesn't matter. This incredible woman I've been married to all these years…she's facing the end.", he took a breath, "All I think about are the times I wasn't there for her. Well, that's going to change – it occurs to me that SAM might be more than I ever imagined.", and here it stopped suddenly.

"He wants us to know his thoughts about Mom's disease…why?", Scot asked confused.

"I don't know.", Sara replied, shaking her head, "It sounds as if he is heading somewhere with these logs…only where?", she sighed, " The only thing for sure is that we will need the other three encrypted logs to shine the light on this matter."

"But we don't know how this memory triggers…", Scott reminded her, "When this has something to do with familiar stuff…well we are as far away from the Milky Way as possible."

"I don't think these things need to be so familiar.", SAM joined the discussion, "I have no history I know about with this kitchen. Perhaps the triggers are connected to progress and not location."

Scott crossed his arms. "So when we move on, we'll get the triggers, eventually?", he inquired.

"It's only a hypothesis.", SAM replied.

"The only one we have right now.", Sara sighed, "And I thought worrying about his wellbeing is the only thing dad lets us worry about right now."

Scott didn't respond to that first, studying only her face. Then he took a deep breath and said: "There is nothing else here. I don't know about you – but I had a loooong day."

As if this has triggered it, Sara yawned. "You're right.", she agreed and they turned around, "Much to process. Perhaps few hours of sleeping will help with that."

"And when we wake up, we get introduced to the Pathfinder's ship.", Scott grinned and they both left the quarter behind.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

I hope you liked this chapter.


	14. CI - Not conclusive (CE1)

Codex Entry: **Charting Andromeda**

Charting the Andromeda Galaxy for habitable planets presents a unique challenge. Observation is limited by light, and given the Andromeda's distance, any observations from the Milky Way are 2.5 million years out of date – enough time for a planet to have altered irrevocably.

Initial attempts to identify settlement sites were made by obtaining Asari astronomical surveys and running them through predictive models. But Jien Garson was unwilling to risk thousands of colonists without solid information.

Eventually, the Initiative obtained promising data from Quarian explorers who claimed to have a Geth array on the fringes of the Perseus Veil. This array was supposedly built from three Mass Relays, using sensors in the combined relay corridor as a form of FTL 'telescope', to observe dark space beyond the galactic rim. Why the Geth expended so much effort to study dark space is not known.

Amongst these observations were near-contemporary surveys of Andromeda. When the Initiative's predictive models confirmed them within an acceptable margin, the Initiative was able to begin identifying 'golden worlds'.

 **Chapter I – Not conclusive**

He started typing, trying a new angle.

'Analysis not conclusive – Too much interference detected.', was written down in red letters on the screen.

He continued typing, trying a new dosage.

'Analysis not conclusive – Too much-'

He tried adding new parameters, switching or deleting old ones.

'Analysis not-'

 _GOD DAMNIT!_ , he thought, while his mouth said something much worse. A close-by nurse casted a glance towards him, after hearing that. "Mind your own business!", he raged back.

There he saw a familiar Asari approaching him from the entrance of the Cryo Bay. "You seem to befriend the locals, do you?", Dr. T'Perro asked him with a smile.

"A Cryo Bay is not a Lab.", Kadyszewski replied, still grumpily.

"Perhaps you'll find a better spot on the Nexus – heard they got our energy.", the Asari countered, while stopping in front of him, typing around on a pad she had brought along.

"I'll try.", the human responded, crossing his arms, "Can't be worse than here.", he nodded his head towards the pad, "The reason for your good mood?"

"I hope so.", Dr. T'Perro replied, before turning the pad around and handing it over to the virologist, "This could help us, get rid of the toxin in Alec's body."

Kadyszewski took the pad harshly and started examining the content. His mien started angry, but the more he read the more fascinated it started to look. "An interesting idea…", he muttered, while lowering the pad and starting to look up to the standing Asari, "How did you hit on that?"

"Habitat 7 gave me some interesting ideas.", Dr. T'Perro replied, crossing her arms, "A deadly world, but still fascinating."

"That's what all this here is about, isn't it?", the human responded, before adding after seeing her quizzical mien, "The Initiative. To broaden our experiences."

She nodded. "Indeed.", she continued the conversation, "So you think it could work?"

He typed around on the pad for a moment. "The dosage still needs to be adjusted.", he started to announce his assessment, "Otherwise you could kill him. Also the time of usage and…"

"But it could work…", the Asari interrupted him, not asking this time.

He looked up at her again, before nodding. "It's our best shot.", he admitted, "Although the community of physicians back home wouldn't dare risking it…"

"Thank the Goddess that this is our home now.", Dr. T'Perro countered, while taking back the pad, "I'll try applying it immediately.", she casted a glance at the terminal he was working at, "You got something on the virus yet?"

He snorted. Instead of answering he pushed a button, so that the earlier message appeared again: 'Analysis not conclusive – too much interference detected.' He leaned back. "Guess.", he added.

"Then let's hope getting rid of this toxin will help with the analysis.", Dr. T'Perro said turning around partially.

"Then we are two.", Kadyszewski responded.

"See you later.", she still added, before turning around completely and leaving the Cryo Bay.

He looked at her leaving, his mien starting to become as grumbling as earlier. Then he turned around to look at the terminal, considered his possibilities for one moment and then decided: he did a throwaway-hand movement towards the screen.

He stood up and left this section of the Cryo Bay, going to the Pod Chambers. It took him a while to find the Pod he was looking for and another while till the machines have driven it towards him.

He shoved a seat closer to himself, found in the otherwise empty corridor in the middle of the Pod Chamber. He looked through the Pods Window, where the frozen silhouette of a woman with long dark hair could be seen. He nodded, before checking the Pod Panel, allowing to see her stats: 'Dr. Caroline Kadyszweski, Xeno-Zoologist, Status: Fine'

He nodded again, before sitting down at the seat. He bended forward, not even looking at the pod, before starting to talk: "Hello Skarbie, sorry for coming here so late.", he sighed, "I was busy…"

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

I hope you liked this chapter.

Translation from Polish:

Skarbie = my love, honey etc.


	15. Interlude II - Labors

**Interlude II – Labors**

"What do you mean, you lost them?", the Primus asked into her Com, sounding furious.

"The Fog.", the voice on the other side replied, "It prevents us from locating them."

"It is a huge ship, almost as big as our Battleships!", the Primus replied even angrier, "How could you lose such a ship!?"

The answer sounded afraid. "I'm sorry I have disappointed you, Primus.", the voice said, "I accept whatever punishment you choose."

"I don't want to punish you – I want that you find this ship!", the Primus raged, "Are you the Centurion of the First Recon Legion or are you only a recruit, needed to be punished over and over again for insubordination!?", he didn't answer, didn't know what to answer, "I want that you find these newcomers, as quickly as possible! And when you'll try to excuse your incompetence next time again, you'll learn that testing me will not only harm yourself, but everyone you love!", and then she switched off the Com.

She leaned back, hand on her face. She was still angry, trying to calm herself down, knowing that anger will not help her. Still she had more than enough reason for this rage: these newcomers have transformed from a nuisance to a top priority; the Archon, not only obsessed with the Relics in this Cluster, was now obsessed with them as well – giving the Primus more work, which distracted her from the actual goal the Empire wanted to achieve: conquering this cluster.

She hammered her fist on the desk. _How could this become even worse?_ , she thought, breathing heavily, when a red button-light appeared on her desk, signaling that her assistant had something to say. She pushed the button, asking still furious: "What?!"

The assistant replied in the Com, sounding subservient: "It's the Cardinal – he wants to speak with you.", he informed her.

 _Not this guy now…_ she thought, trying to relax her body stature for the Holo-Conversation, _As if I need more labors to do, which the Archon should be doing._ Officially she and the Cardinal were of the same rank, only inferior to the Archon, but because she was the Second-in-Command and the Archon neglected his duties thanks to his obsessions, it was her job to supervise him as well.

"Cardinal.", she greeted him politely, after he appeared in a Holo-Projection, processed by her desk, "What can I do for you?"

He looked similar to her, what wasn't a surprise. As each officer of the Empire he wore the symbols of his rank in his body: his face and the top of the skull were black, while the bone segments were fewer than anywhere else on his body; he wore a garment, looking almost sacred, red like fit to his rank, while hers were green. He spoke with his deep voice, as high and mighty as always, when she needed to deal with him: "Primus, are you busy?"

"Not at all.", she replied, lying obviously.

"Then I would like to request a delivery.", he said, "The Chambers are not as full as they could and the Exaltation shouldn't stop."

"So capture some Angara.", the Primus suggested, "There need to be enough on Voeld."

"They have problems seeing the light.", the Cardinal made an excuse, "It would be much easier to show the Hiri their wrongdoings."

 _So this it is all about…_ she thought, before answering with a strict and determined voice: "The Hiri accepted the terms and are under the protection of the Empire now.", she lowered her voice, "They are not allowed to be exalted without their consent – that's the Law."

"What is the law in contrast to the light?", the Cardinal asked, sounding like he would believe what he said, "Nothing. Each Species has the privilege of being exalted and should accept it with delight."

"As delightful as the Angara?", the Primus brought up.

The face of the Cardinal became angry. "Some are too blind to see what privilege they get.", he explained, "I-"

"Enough!", the Primus exercised her authority, "The Law applies to all servants of the Empire, even you.", and before he could object, she added, "The Hiri are not allowed to be touched, no matter how dire the situation is at your facility. The request is denied."

"I see.", the Cardinal replied, hiding his rage, "Then I will no longer bother you.", and so he cut off the connection.

 _One more labor…_ she thought, leaning back. She knew that Exaltation was a valuable strategic resource, considering the limits of her possibilities in this sector. But allowing this Fanatic to go against the Law was a step too far. She heard rumors that there were whisperers in the Empress' ears, sitting in the Senate, who were fond of this Cult and going against it publicly would harm not only her career. If her friends at home were right, even the old Empress was fond of these cultists – more, at least, as the Primus would like to. But it was still her job to enforce the Imperial Law, even in the outskirts of the Empire. And no distracted Archon, not even a fanatic Cardinal would stop her from doing exactly that.

But perhaps she would need to look for solutions for these labors outside of the traditional view of her office.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

The reader, who knows the game, will find few things I've changed in this chapter about the Kett. The reasons are the same as the last time: making the Kett not only a threat, but also an interesting threat. Using the Primus' point of view for that ended up being even quite fun. ^^


	16. CI - Diagnosis (CE1)

Codex Entry: **First Contact War**

Humanity's first contact with an alien race occurred in 2157. At that time, the Alliance allowed survey fleets to activate any dormant mass relays discovered, a practice considered dangerous and irresponsible by Council-aligned races. When a turian patrol discovered a human fleet attempting to activate a relay, they attacked. One human vessel survived, retreating to the colony of Shanxi.

The Turians followed, quickly defeating the local forces. Shanxi was occupied, the first – and, to date, only – human world to be conquered by an alien species. The Turians believed the handful of ships they defeated represented the bulk of human defenses. So they were unprepared when the Second Fleet under Admiral Kastanie Drescher launched a strong counteroffensive, evicting them from Shanxi.

The Turians mobilized for full-scale war, drawing the attention of the rest of the galaxy. The Council quickly intervened, forcing a truce. Fortunately for humanity, the First Contact War was ended with a diplomatic solution.

 **Chapter I – Diagnosis**

Kadyszewski hated this working environment as well.

The Nexus has been shut down almost completely for the last months, so that they could ration the power. Due to this there was no place for a researcher, who longed only for a quiet space, where he could work. Oh he knew, that since the Hyperion arrived the Nexus Operators were reactivating shut down sections, but a Research Environment wasn't priority – as the krogan woman has explained him, with a syrupy smile and not-hidden danger in her voice.

Thanks to this he didn't share his work space only with the researches behind him, but also with some research assistants and of course the whole section in front of him – only the busiest space on the whole Operations Deck. There were everywhere people, talking, working, running around and whatever else they were doing – that was no space for proper research.

"We can start building a bank of vaccines, once we get more biomaterial.", the salarian Professor started talking behind him once again. Kadyszewski sighed, because he knew what was coming: another longer conversation between him and the other scientists, loud enough that it became even louder for him. The virologist tried to focus on the data displayed on the terminal, he was working at.

But another distraction was coming from the front: Dr. Lexi T'Perro went the few stairs up to his station. "Hello, Jacob.", she greeted him friendly.

 _Seems there will be no research today anymore…_ , he thought and leaned back, looking up to her. "Hello, Doctor.", he greeted her back, not even trying to smile, "What are you doing here? Aren't you busy with the awakening process on the Hyperion?"

She shook her head. "Not anymore.", she explained, "Got transferred to the Pathfinder's ship."

"And why aren't you there?", he inquired, almost wishing she would go away.

"Because the administration doesn't approve with the deployment of the ship.", the Asari replied, seemingly ignoring the obvious hostility of the human physician, "And I thought we would have left the Milky Way Bureaucracy behind, when we switched the galaxies.", she chuckled, "But it seems they are more stubborn than Kathis.", she chuckled again, before realizing something, "Oh, these are…"

"…Thessian cockroaches.", Jacob interrupted her, finishing her sentence, "Yeah, I know. I had the displeasure of meeting their teeth…or whatever they own."

Curiosity appeared on Lexi's face. "You were on Thessia?", she asked accordingly, "Didn't know that."

"Probably not the only thing.", Kadyszewski replied grumblingly, before sighing and explaining, "Needed to enlighten some of my colleagues and impress some sponsors for my research back then. Most boring stuff I ever had to do – and I like to read medical books.", Lexi chuckled, while he leaned forward, "So is the Small Talk over?"

She got a mischievous grin. "You aren't as bad as I heard.", she replied, leaning forward to look at his data, "So how is the research? Have you found out something?"

 _Finally something interesting…_ he thought and started typing something on the keypad. "It could be better, but also much worse.", he explained, before activating the small round holo-projector found beside the terminal, "I found our little friend."

A blue Holo-projection appeared above the device. It showed a sphere, with several antennas all around its shell. It was surrounded with all kinds of data, although most of it wasn't readable thanks to its size. "You were right.", Kadyszewski explained, "It is a virus."

Lexi looked at it with a fascinated face. "You could detect it despite the remains of the toxin?", she asked, looking down to him.

He nodded. "The accuracy is only 79%, I admit, but my guts tell me, we have found our bad boy.", he continued explaining, before typing something on the keypad again, to highlight and magnify the data sets, "He can be located in most parts of the body, but I still couldn't analyze how he is working. The research equipment of this place…", he leaned back and turned his head around, with an annoyed face, "…isn't as sensible as I would wish. The working environment is actually worse than on the Hyperion."

"Can you find a cure?", Lexi asked, ignoring the complains.

Jacob leaned back forward. "The good news is that this virus' structure doesn't differ much from the ones I have researched back then in the Milky Way.", he explained, "The Bad News: he belongs to the category, which was hard to treat already back then."

"What was the problem?", the Asari inquired.

"There were many problems.", Kadyszewski replied, "But most of them were connected to the rarity of certain material needed for the meds. The resources were hard to find in the Milky Way and here on the Nexus…", he pointed at the terminal with its data sets, "I was looking through the inventory, hoping to find some of the necessary resources, but wasn't able to find anything yet."

Lexi put a hand at her chin, seemingly thinking. "And are the same resources required to prevent the virus of further spreading?", she asked, not looking at him, but instead at the data.

"You want to stabilize him, hm?", the human assumed, "I think I know some other ways to extend the time we have to find a cure. But all of them are highly experimental, thanks to the fact that I have only a guess about how it's working."

"But you can guarantee their success?", Lexi inquired, looking at him with a serious face now.

Kadyszewski leaned back and started to smile for the first time during this conversation. "I haven't become a virologist for taking unnecessary risks - I can guarantee it.", he replied, sounding even excited, "But in the end: this will not cure him. We will still need to find the necessary ingredients for the meds."

The tension seen on her body disappeared from one moment to another. "We are out here to explore, aren't we?", she asked, smiling again even, "So we'll explore and find them out here."

He shook his head. "I know what we need.", he explained, "No offense, but explaining you what features are the right ones we need, would take too long."

"Then come along.", the asari suggested, "I bet the Pathfinder will need a competent virologist onboard his ship anyway. After all we are looking for a place to live, for the long-term."

That took the human aback. "Leaving the Hyperion?", he asked, sounding not as sure as one moment earlier, before needing a while to think about it.

"You are not afraid, are you?", Lexi asked, sounding confused about this reaction.

"No, of course not.", he replied again grumblingly, "I am a virologist on the most exciting Research Mission ever, but…", he exhaled some air, before adding more confidently, "It will be no problem. But I will need to do some things earlier…except for treating my patient."

"Of course.", Lexi replied and turned around partially, "Then we'll see us on the Hyperion to treat our pathfinder. See you then."

He waved towards her, when she left him. He needed to exhale once again, looking slightly angry about this result. _Almost…she got me almost…_ he thought, before saving his data and getting up. He left the Nexus quickly and took the tram back to the Hyperion. He passed the Cryo Bay and went straightaway to the Pod Chambers. He didn't need to look long to find the pod he was looking for. "Sorry.", he whispered towards it, "But I will need to leave you, Skarbie. For some time. I hope it will not be long…and that we will be able to revive you afterwards as well.", he put a hand on the pod, "I promise I'll come back for you…like always."

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

I hope you liked this chapter.


	17. CI - The Tempest (CE2)

Codex Entry: **Element Zero (Eezo)**

Also known as 'eezo', the rare material known as element zero generates a field when subjected to an electrical current which raises or lowers the mass of all objects within it. This 'Mass Effect' forms the basis of modern technology, from weapons and manufacturing, to enabling faster-than-light travel.

Element Zero is generated when solid matter, such as a planet, is affected by the energy of a star going supernova. The material is common in the asteroid debris that orbits neutron stars and pulsars, though mining such regions is extremely hazardous and requires significant investment. Various isotopes of element zero have been identified, though the rarest have only been observed in laboratory conditions.

Surveys of the Heleus Cluster suggested the region is rich in element zero, which was a deciding factor in the Andromeda Initiative's decision to settle there. Without eezo, the Initiative's technology would quickly become obsolete.

Codex Entry: **FTL Drive**

A starship travels faster than light using an element zero drive core. In special relativity, an object approaching light speed effectively gains in mass, until it would take infinite energy to propel it. But a negative electrical current running through an eezo drive core lowers the starship's mass, allowing it to travel at FTL speeds.

Motive force is provided by the ship's thrusters (chemical rockets, commercial fusion torch, or military antiproton drive), in addition to the FTL drive core. Without thrusters, the ship has no ability to move.

Standard drive cores build up a static charge during operation, and must be discharged periodically. Otherwise the core discharges into the ship itself, with catastrophic results. The Initiative's drive cores, intended for long-term voyages, are designed to recycle or reduce static buildup.

 **Chapter I – The Tempest**

"You know that moment when you realize you're just getting too old?", Dr. Carlyle answered with a sad sounding voice.

"Uh…", was Scott's reaction.

That put a smile on the other human's face. "Ha, right.", he chuckled a little bit, "Look who I'm talking to.", he became a little bit more serious, "Trust me, it happens. For me, it was Habitat 7.", he shook his head, "Watching you guys running around, dodging lightning and the Kett…it's a young man's game. Pains me to admit it, but it's passed me by."

"I see.", Scott replied, "A shame you will not come with us anymore. What will you do on the Hyperion?"

"We still have thousands of people taking a nap here, and they need tending to.", the physician answered, "And this way I can help looking out for Alec."

Scott's mien darkened a little bit. "How's he?"

"His condition's stable…for now.", Dr. Carlyle answered, crossing his arms, "We are still working on a cure.", and with more conviction in his voice, "We will not lose him, I promise you that."

"I am glad he is with somebody who cares.", Scott replied, "Thanks for that, Harry. I'll stay in touch."

"Don't be a stranger.", the physician answered, "If anything changes with Alec, I'll let you and your sister know."

Scott nodded and turned around. He was in Cryo Bay again, there where he woke up – seemed like a lifetime ago. He saw some familiar, some unfamiliar faces being treated by the physicians around here. He went to Fisher, whose head was bandaged and he was talking with a female doctor. "Leg's feeling a little better.", he said to her, while Scott approached them.

"The bruise of the muscle seems to heal pretty well.", the physician replied, looking at the data projected by her Omni-tool.

"Fisher, glad to see you're doing better.", Scott attracted his attention, smiling.

The other human returned the smile. "That was some expedition, huh?", he asked, "Captain said I'm going in the log as the first human to make contact with the Kett.", and he added sadder, "And Kirkland's the first casualty. Wish it could've gone differently."

Scott crossed his arms. "Wasn't your fault.", he responded, sounding sternly, "It's obvious the Kett aren't friendly. Nothing we did could've changed that."

Fisher nodded. "I suppose you're right.", he looked down, "It's just not what you dream about – meet a new species…and three seconds later they're trying to kill you."

"I hear you.", Scott answered, "But I guess that's life: not everyone will see things our way. In the meantime, chin up. It'll get better."

"I'll try.", Fisher answered and turned back to the female doctor.

Scott on the other hand turned around and saw the last familiar face in the bay. "Hayes, how's the wound?", he asked, approaching the other injured member of the original Pathfinder-Team. She was sitting alone, looking kind of lonely.

"Doc says I'll live.", she replied, looking up and with bad attitude in the voice, "So this goes from a life-threatening gunshot to a story, I'll tell my grandkids someday."

"With no need to exaggerate.", Scott replied, smiling again to lift her spirits, "That was a tough fight on Habitat 7."

She smirked. "Just glad to be on the other side of it.", she stated.

"Ryder.", a voice called out for him, coming from the entrance of the Bay. When he turned around he saw Cora approaching him. She has changed her uniform to one with more black and blue – so the Initiative's colors – than white on it.

"Pathfinder.", he greeted her, with a nod.

"Only temporally.", she replied, stopping in front of him, "I was looking for you and Sara. You know where she is?"

"Yeah, she is…", Scott replied, turning his head in the direction, where the door towards the Pod Chamber opened right now, "…WAS with dad."

Both of them saw her leaving the chamber and seeing the two together. "I see…", Cora replied, when the other Ryder approached them. "What's up?", Sara asked, smirking.

"Oh nothing special.", Cora replied, crossing her arms, "Only that we finally got our ship."

"Really?", Scott asked, with excitement in his voice.

"Finally.", Sara added, sounding as excited as him.

"With a full crew.", Cora replied, turning around partially, "Want to take a look?"

"You can bet on that.", the twins replied at the same time.

The three left the Cryo Bay, going towards the tram. "How was Tann?", Sara asked, while moving, "Did he continue to grill you after we left?"

"What?", Cora asked, sounding surprised first, but then regained control, "I need to admit that I haven't thought about Tann the last days. You could think the lieutenant of the Pathfinder has more work to do then the Pathfinder itself. Think again. I barely had time for something else.", she shook her head, "What's your opinion on him?"

"He is a politician.", Sara replied first, "As slippery as a professional liar."

"He is an asshole.", Scott replied on the other hand, "The Initiative couldn't have a worse leader right now."

"I think he was simply unprepared for this role.", Cora added, when they reached the tram, "But you're right: the reputation of the Initiative seems to be more important for him right now, than the actual success of the colonization process."

"I know Garson was killed, but when he was her successor, he should have been prepared for even the worst outcome.", Sara countered.

"Not when he wasn't part of the senior leadership originally.", Cora objected, "All of them died, not only Garson. Her whole inner circle died due to the Scourge or the Uprising. Some even never made it out of the stasis.", she started to tell the tram their direction, "Originally he was Deputy Assistant for Revenue Management, before all seven leaders died. He was simply next in line."

"He was the 8th?!", Scott asked, sounding shocked.

"He is an accountant?!", Sara asked, equally shocked.

"Something like that.", Cora replied the second question, "Although he stressed the fact that every member of the Initiative is capable of more – and there he's right. Garson looked for such people by design.", the tram started to move, "But in the end it isn't important. He leads the Initiative now, even when the other three directors always argue with him. We'll need to deal with this, if we like it or not. But much more important is what he said about the missing Arks."

"What did he say?", Sara asked, crossing her arms.

"There is no information.", Cora started to answer, "NO information AT ALL. No communication attempts, no sensor data, no debris – nothing. As if they've vanished. We don't even know if they have reached Andromeda or the Heleus Cluster."

"Perhaps they have met the Scourge as we did.", Scott alluded.

"If they had the same or worse problems than we had, I fear the worst.", Sara added.

"Not only you.", Cora replied, "Part of our mission is to find clues. ANY clues. Otherwise the Initiative's mission as a whole is in jeopardy.", the tram stopped and the Pathfinder looked at her lieutenants, "But try to keep it to yourselves, ok? The people here on the Nexus started to gain hope again after we arrived – it would be better that they keep it."

"Agreed.", Sara nodded.

"You can count on us.", Scott added, when the three left the tram, being back again in the Docking Bay, where they have arrived on the Nexus. It looked – obviously – quite similar to when they arrived few days ago. But the differences were easily seen: it was brighter, because the lights were switched on; the other end of the bay was seen in the distance even; earlier it looked like a warehouse, with stored devices everywhere, but now somebody seems to have cleaned up everything, because it could be called indeed a public space now; and people were running around everywhere to prove this, doing some kind of jobs.

"Looks much better.", Scott commented the sight, stopping.

"Pathfinder en route.", Cora started to talk in her Omni-tool, "How's the ship?"

Both Ryders looked at her, while the answer was received. "In final checks and looking great.", a turian sounding voice replied, even when it was less clangorous than Kandros'.

"We won't be long.", Cora replied, looking up, "The way things are going, we'll be on our own out there."

"In other words, we're making this up as we go.", Sara replied, smirking.

Scott chuckled. "We used to call that 'tactical improvisation.'", he commented.

"But at least we'll be doing it in style.", Cora added, "Let's go."

They moved across the bay, passing the lowered part of this section. They noticed that some of the Nexus crew stopped working and looked up. The ceiling was far away from these people and there was enough space for real vehicles – like ships. Everyone started to move towards the railing at the end of this section and the three started to see the reason at the horizon: the silhouette of a ship was flying across the space there.

"They call her the Tempest.", Cora commented, seeing the ship descend on the right side.

Both Ryders could only watch, when they reached the railing as well. The landing ship had a longish design, with the bow being stretched forward and away from the engines, as far as possible. There were four thrusters, all of them installed at the bigger wings found at the stern of the ship, while another, smaller pair of wings was found close to the bow. The dominant color – at least at the bottom of the ship, which was seen right now – was black, with white stripes and sections here and there, while the bottom of the bow itself was painted crimson red. The name 'Tempest' was written at some of the sections as well, being hidden by the nozzles found at the bottom, which allowed the ship to land. The whole design looked elegant and curvy without any noticeable edge, looking flawless.

The Tempest landed on a platform, seen across the railing and a ramp opened up at the bottom, while undercarriage was driven out as well. The landing was slow, but confident and the ship touched down without noticeable shaking. People, found close to the platform, started moving when the engines where switched off or at least throttled, so that they could transport the missing cargo onboard.

"Let's go take a closer look!", Scott suggested and moved right already, where an elevator led down to the landing platform. The other two followed him quickly and they didn't need long to pass the platform. They saw already the people storing the cargo via the ramp, while a female Turian oversaw everything. She looked similar to the one from the Militia HQ, but wore different clothes: she wore an armor suit, ready for battle, but opposite of Kandros' one it looked tighter and due to her more slender physique, smaller, while being dominated by black, white and blue colors; even a jump-jet was seen on her back.

When the three came closer, they could hear her instructions to the storing crew: "Let's pick it up a bit, people!", she replied, sounding turian, but also quite female and above all impatient, "We're fourteen months late!", she lifted another box and gave it to one returning crew member.

Then she noticed the newcomers. "So you're the one who's making everything happen.", she commented with her quiet, but easily heard voice, turning around fully to them now, before introducing herself, "Vetra. Vetra Nyx. Initiative wrangler, provisioner, gunner, and everything in between."

Her whole skin color was darker, more grey than the one of the last turian woman, but her facial carapace was brighter. From her mandibles, across her eyes, towards her forehead two purple lines were drawn diagonally, one thicker, one thinner, before merging on her forehead and progressing upwards for a short while – her colonial tattoo. From right to left a thin visor-HUD was seen worn across her eyes, so that they could hide behind the blue, transparent holo-display.

"Are we ready?", she asked impatiently, but also quite excited and she put one arm on her hips, "The sooner we get out of here the better."

"You're coming with us?", Scott asked bluntly.

"Yes.", the turian woman replied, looking sternly at the human male, while her voice was snappy, "Otherwise, there's no way they're letting this ship off the station."

"What's the rush?", Sara inquired, sounding curious.

"Just don't want to waste any more time.", Vetra replied, turning around partially already, "I took the liberty to pick up Liam Kosta on the way, as well as getting all the stuff from your cabins onboard."

"The quick one, huh…wait, what?!", was Sara's reaction.

"I knew you wouldn't object.", Vetra interrupted her and turned around fully now, moving up the ramp.

The humans looked at each other, completely perplexed – even Cora was taken aback by these quick developments. They followed the turian up the ramp, when suddenly another voice was heard from the back: "Hold it. Hold it!", a male voice said, "You're not going anywhere!"

"Damn it.", Vetra replied meekly, while everyone turned around one by one.

"Whatever happened, it wasn't me.", Scott replied first, sounding guilty, "I just got here."

The human administrator shook his head, while stepping forward. "Director Addiosn wants to see a complete report of the Tempest's supplies, munitions, and crew.", the man explained.

Cora crossed her arms. "Director Tann overruled Addison.", she reminded him.

He shook his head another time. "The ship's loaded out with equipment for outpost discovery – squarely under Director Addison's purview.", he explained, while Vetra stepped forward. She passed the three humans, indicating with her hand to wait for her.

"Seen you around.", she started to talk with the human, while approaching him, "Ben, right?", she grabbed him by his shoulder and led him away few steps. _What are they talking about?_ Sara asked herself and bended her head forward to eavesdrop.

"Came here with a family, didn't you?", Vetra continued talking, while taking Ben for a walk, "Son still in cryo? I could pull some strings, get him to the front of the line…", she alluded, stopping and looking at the human.

His face looked surprised. "Really?", he asked, sounding hopeful.

Vetra nodded, stressing it: "Yeah, really."

He started to look around and Sara immediately started to look elsewhere. He whispered something to the turian woman and she whispered back, although this part Sara could hear: "…I got family too, Ben."

Afterwards the human looked down at his Pad, pushed some buttons and both of them nodded. "Addison is going to kill me.", he muttered loud enough that the others could hear him.

"Thank goodness.", Sara commented this, sounding really relieved, "For a sec I thought I was going to have to deal with Addison again."

The human left the platform, while Vetra turned around to the others again. She chuckled, while walking back, saying: "And no one wants that.", and while passing them, "All things considered, it was an easy ask.", and then turning around only to go up the ramp in reverse, "And right now, you need people tearing down obstacles, not putting up more."

"Can't argue with that.", Scott stated, before everyone went onboard.

"Finally.", Cora added, sounding happy, "Someone who cares about doing stuff, and not just talking about it."

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

Welcome Vetra Nyx onboard, the first original new Squaddie from Mass Effect: Andromeda since the Prolog. So expect to see more of her – also because she is my personal favorite. ^^


	18. CI - The Crew (CE2)

Codex Entry: **Mass Effect Fields**

Element zero can increase or decrease the mass of a volume of space-time when subjected to an electrical current. With a positive current, mass is increased. With a negative current, mass is decreased. The stronger the current, the greater the magnitude of the dark energy mass effect.

In space, low-mass fields allow FTL travel and inexpensive surface-to-orbit transit. High-mass fields create artificial gravity and push debris away from vessels. In manufacturing, low-mass fields permit the creation of evenly blended alloys, while high mass compaction creates dense, sturdy construction materials.

The Andromeda Initiative's technology relies heavily on mass effect fields, from reduced-mass supply drops for outposts to the impressive long-range drive cores on the Arks.

Codex Entry: **The Tempest**

The Tempest is a survey ship designed for long-range, long-term exploration under a Pathfinder's command. Its light weight and efficient design allow it to operate with a small crew and minimal resources.

Built by the Andromeda Initiative, the Tempest makes use of several once-proprietary technologies, including an IES ( **I** nternal **E** mission **S** ink) Stealth system originally developed by the Systems Alliance. Many of these systems were permitted on the condition that the Tempest only operates in the Andromeda Galaxy.

The Tempest's engine is a variation on the Ark's ODSY drives that allow long-term operation, capturing a percentage of the static buildup in capacitors. The recycled electrical charge powers several of the Tempest's onboard systems.

 **Chapter I – The Crew**

They entered the hangar bay of the Tempest, which was also its cargo bay. It was pretty huge and quite empty, beside few boxes close to its four walls. Some devices and cables were found here and there and opposite of the ramp an elevator was found, which could drive only in one direction: up, to a second floor, which expanded only along the walls and in this way allowing everyone to look down at the cargo bay.

"Everything's state-of-the-art.", Vetra explained, leading the three humans inside, while the ramp closed behind them, "Labs, sensors, exploration gear…", Scott looked up and saw a human carrying a box around on the second floor, "Plus her crew, of course. The best in their field.", Sara on the other hand looked forward, where a familiar face was driving down with the elevator: Dr. Lexi T'Perro, the Asari physician from the Cryo Bay of the Hyperion.

"Glad to see you're doing so well, Ryders.", the Asari greeted them, while passing the little group. Vetra led them towards the Elevator.

"The engine core's based on the Ark's ODSY Drive.", Vetra explained, while they drove the short path upwards.

"But runs a hell of a lot quieter.", a young, human man, with short red hair, a 3-day-beard and red-white engineer clothes said, while passing the group as well.

"That's Gil Brodie, Chief Engineer, mechanic, all-round wrench jockey.", Vetra explained, while leading them towards stairs, found at this section of the second floor. At the end of their path a door was seen, right on opposite side of the Elevator, leading outside of the Cargo Bay.

"We call this the Research Room.", Vetra explained, while passing the door. It had a round shape, with two circular stairs leading upwards on both sides of the door. In the middle was found a round Holo-Projector, as well like various devices and terminals, where crew members could work on. "There's space for upgrading equipment, gathering intel…", Vetra continued explained, while they passed the Holo-projector, moving to the other side of the round room. More terminals were found there, installed at the walls, but also two closed doors and one path leading forward – probably towards the bow of the ship.

"Router engaged.", SAM explained in the public channel, "Securing connection to Tempest."

The three looked at the projection of the Nexus found above the Holo-Projector, while another person came down one of the stairs. She was a human scientist, deducing from her red-white clothes, and was lightly tanned, while her ginger hair has grown to her neck. "Welcome aboard, SAM.", she said to nobody in particular, while passing the group, "And Ryders and Harper, of course!", she added, after looking at them, with a smile, before leaving them through the door, they came inside. Her voice had an exotic accent, reminding the humans of Scotland.

"All run by Suvi Anwar, our science officer.", Vetra introduced her, while they moved the stairs upwards. They reached an open room above the door they came through, identically round like the last one with a big table in the middle. Terminals were found on it, completing the appearance of a briefing room, while the walls were replaced by thick windows, allowing a great view outside. Here and there also some plants could be seen.

"The quarters of crew and pathfinder are at the bottom.", Vetra continued explaining, while leading them to a glass railing, from where they could look down to the Research Room, "Plenty of space up here to get everyone together.", she stopped there, looking at Cora, "It's all yours. She's light, stealthy, and the fastest ship in her class."

Overwhelmed by all this information the three humans needed a moment to grasp it. "Every plan the Initiative made is out the window.", Sara adapted the fastest, after exhaling for one moment, "Now it's on us to find the way."

"We all came here ready for a challenge.", Vetra replied, looking at the other human woman, before looking back towards Cora, "When you're ready to fly, head over to the Bridge.", she pointed towards the path leading away from the Research Room, "Our pilot should have everything good to go.", then she nodded, turned around and left the three alone.

The humans continued looking down for a while, seemingly thinking. It was Cora who ended the silence: "Well, let's head to the bridge better.", she explained, smirking, "Before Addison finds another way to stop us from leaving."

"Wait.", Scott stopped her, while she wanted to turn around, "We would like to tell you something first.", he casted a glance towards Sara.

"What?", Cora inquired, sounding curious, but also confused, while looking at Sara.

"We discussed it, Scott.", Sara directed at her brother, "And I am still not sure, if this information will change anything."

"She has the right to know it.", Scott simply replied, crossing his arms.

"About what are you talking?", Cora interrupted further chatting, sounding wary now as well, "What information?"

Sara sighed, before looking at the other woman. "We know why I survived…well you know Habitat 7.", she started to explain, but got only a confused look in return.

"Why dad is still alive as well.", Scott added, looking at his sister.

"You know what SAM did?", Cora asked, sounding curious now. The twins nodded, but didn't continue to explain. "So spit it out.", Cora added, more impatient, "What has SAM done and how?"

"He is an AI.", Scott said first, getting a surprised face in return.

"Not any AI.", Sara added, "Father developed him and…connected with him."

"The implants we all have…", Scott continued after seeing Cora's confused face, "…well they are only the minimum of connection dad has. SAM is able to temper with his whole physiology."

Now horror was seen on Harper's face. "You don't mean that SAM controls him, do you?", she asked with real fear in her voice.

"No, no…", Sara continued, shaking her head, "Well technically yes, but no mind control or something like this. It's kinda…symbiotic relationship between dad and SAM."

That calmed Cora a little bit. "So he…saved the pathfinder…", she started thinking aloud, "But still isn't able to get him out of this pod?"

"Even my knowledge is limited.", SAM joined the conversation now, in the public channel of the three, "Wherever Alec went, I went with him. When Alec learned something, I learned something. I can't treat something, I know nothing about. I don't want to harm him."

The three humans had lifted their glances up, while listening to the AI. "Thanks for the explanation, SAM.", Cora replied, sounding uncertain, before looking towards Sara, "And you…", she looked at Scott, "…you are connected to him now as well?"

"He assures that we aren't.", Scott replied, "And I believe him."

"But our connection is stronger now.", Sara added, "SAM is able to do more things…with us around now. Something similar to what dad did in this tower on Habitat 7."

Cora put a hand at her chin. "I see…", she started walking back and forth, "That's…much to process."

"Now you know how we felt, when we heard it.", Scott said with a grin.

"How long do you know about this?", Cora asked, sounding rather curious, instead of judgemental.

"Since I woke up.", Sara replied, "But we learned about the details, after docking on the Nexus."

"And nobody else knows about this?", Cora inquired, sounding professional now.

The twins bandied looks. "We haven't told this anybody yet.", Scott replied, "Except for you."

"That doesn't mean that nobody could have found out.", Sara added, "We don't know if it is…visible on scans."

"I see…", Cora replied only, nodding lightly.

"But we don't want to keep it a secret anymore.", Scott continued, sounding agitated, "At least I don't want to. Dad kept it a secret, even from us. I don't think this was the right call. It doesn't help building trust towards SAM – and we will need him out there."

"He is an AI, Scott.", Sara countered, sounding similar to him, "Two years ago…at least two years before we left the Milky Way there was an attack of AIs on the Citadel. People died. Don't you think that there will people among the Initiative who lost some loved ones? There is a reason why AIs are not trusted among all species."

"So you don't trust SAM?", Scott responded, sounding annoyed.

Sara sighed. "I want to.", she admitted, "But…there is simply too much we don't know yet…", she looked up again, "Sorry SAM."

"You don't need to apologize.", SAM replied, "I am fully aware, why Alec kept me secret, even when I wish this wouldn't be necessary. I hope that I will gain your trust throughout the continuation of our relationship."

Sara's smile was sad, but she said nothing else. "I agree with Sara.", Cora added to the conversation, attracting the twins attention, "For now at least.", she said after seeing Scott's shocked face, "There is still too much we don't know and…", she sighed, "Can we solve one problem after another?" she touched her temple, "Being Pathfinder isn't the easiest job in this galaxy, you know?"

Scott calmed down immediately and looked guilty. "Sorry.", he apologized, "I didn't want to give you even more burdens you need to shoulder.", he looked up, "What you think, SAM – let's wait better?"

"Okay.", the AI replied simply, "One of my jobs was to help the pathfinder solve problems. Even when my connection to you isn't the same like to Alec, I would like to try to help you as well."

"Thanks SAM.", Cora replied, before sighing, "So…let's move on to the bridge."

They nodded and then started moving down the stairs. The Research Room was quite empty right now, except for Liam, who was standing close to the middle projector, holding a pad. When he looked up, he grinned towards the small group and started pointing at the pad. "Hey guys, check this toy.", he explained.

"What toy?", Scott asked, sounding curious and he stepped towards him.

"A useful one.", Liam explained, pointing again at the pad, while Scott looked at the data and pictures presented there, "This makes use of old ones. Like anything you grabbed on Habitat 7.", he thought a moment, before continuing, "Like raw minerals. Tech. Doesn't matter. The research station will strip that stuff down, give you options."

"We'll take any advantage we can get.", Cora joined the conversation, "Even if it's exploring junk."

Liam grinned even more. "Hey, with tech like this, it won't be junk for long.", he explained, "Not after we're through."

"Certainly.", Cora replied and the three moved on. They needed to go through a tube, whose walls were filled with terminal screens. The path towards the other side of the tube – where a closed door was waiting – was a transparent bridge, so that there were gaps, allowing to look to the lower floor of the ship. To both sides of the closed door were ladders, allowing to go down there at any moment, but the three simply moved forward towards the door and opened it.

The bridge was spacious. There were terminals to both sides, but also the doors leading to the docking devices, as well like to an escape capsule – one of the many found throughout the ship. The front was a window, allowing each person on the Bridge a great view. Close to it, left and right, were terminals, panels and controls, while the section in between was left empty, allowing the people to go as close to the window as possible.

"Wow…", Sara said, after seeing the great view throughout the interior of the Nexus, while the three moved inside.

"Departure trajectory locked, Nexus Control.", a voice from the right interrupted any further conversation and they looked at this direction – the seat in front of these controls was occupied. It turned around partially and a brown Salarian appeared on it. "Ah, time for introductions!", he said with a smile and a happy sounding voice, before standing up quickly, "Who from you is Harper?"

"That's me.", Cora replied, even lifting a hand for this.

"Welcome onboard, Pathfinder!", the Salarian replied happily, while coming closer quickly, "Then you must be the Ryders.", he stopped in front of the three, "Kallo Jath. A pleasure to be here.", he almost grabbed Cora's hand, then Scott's and last but not least Sara's, to shake it, "And to meet you, of course.", he relaxed visibly after that, "I'll be piloting the Tempest at your word.", these words were directed at Cora, "Quite the ship! But it'll take a Pathfinder's guidance to see us through Heleus."

The humans exchanged glances. "I'm new to this.", Cora admitted, sounding even nervous, "Being a Pathfinder, running a ship…"

"You'll be fine.", Kallo replied enthusiastically, "As for the ship, I can help: I knew the Tempest when she was a blueprint.", and after seeing the confused glances, he added, while indicating with his hand to follow him, "I was the test pilot for the Tempest's early prototypes.", he led them to the free spot in between the control panels, "I admit, I'm itching to see how she performs out here."

A railing drove up, when they reached the end of a platform, seemingly. On the railing were controls, making this spot to a panel as well. Kallo directed his head towards it, indicating that Cora should use the panel. "Hmm…", she first said, not stepping forward, "So how do I…?"

"The console syncs with your implant.", Kallo explained, "Just swipe, touch a destination here, and the Nav System calculates everything. Very efficient."

"It was optimized for a Pathfinder.", Vetra added from behind. When the three looked back, they saw that beside her, also Liam and Suvi have entered the Bridge, whereby Suvi went already towards the other station on the left side.

"Everything's secure.", Liam added, grinning again, "If you're ready…"

"Is anyone ready for something this big?", Scott asked, crossing his arms.

"I guess we have to be.", Sara added, more serious.

"Alright…", Kallo added, sounding perplexed, before leaving his spot, going towards the others, "Excuse me…Excuse me…", he added, while trying to pass them, going to his station.

"Command access is transferring successfully.", Vetra added, after having typed around on her Omni-tool.

"Um…", Suvi attracted their attention, "…science and monitoring stations look fine. Lexi is reporting in…"

"Helm is green.", Kallo added, "Gil reports the drive core is online."

"This is it, Harper.", Scott added, stepping back like his sister, "The Tempest is yours. Unless you've got something to say, for the log?"

Cora thought about this for a moment. She sighed first, before starting to say: "Things seem bad, but we've already beaten the odds.", first she sounded unsure, but the more she said, the more confident she started to sound, "And we'll beat them again.", she casted a glance towards her crew members, "You know it, I know it.", she turned back, "So let's show them what we've got."

The Ryders nodded, but the others looked satisfied as well. "Nexus Control, this is the Tempest.", Kallo started talking into the radio, "Ident two-five, two-seven, prepping to depart.", and not sooner he has said it, they started to feel vibrations throughout the ship.

When looked from outside, one would see a rising ship, whose main thrusters started to flare, while the ramp closed. They would see the Tempest leaving the landing platform, before reaching a gate, which opened for it. The ship didn't even need to wait for the closing of the gate behind itself, because it went so quick and the second gate in front of it opened one moment later. The Tempest reached the space in between the Wards of the Nexus and started to leave it, flying forward.

"Departure vector verified, Tempest.", Nexus Control replied, "Godspeed, Pathfinder."

And one moment later the Tempest accelerated, disappearing in the darkness of space.

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

And with this we conclude the Main Mission called "Nexus Reunion" – so Chapter One is almost over. ^^ But I've written another chapter, which you will probably see already – I decided to upload both of them at the same day, because I wanted to have all of them uploaded before December.


	19. CI - Slinth (CE2)

Codex Entry: **Salarians**

The Salarians are a warm-blooded amphibious species from the Milky Way planet of Sur'Kesh. Naturally fast metabolisms mean that Salarians live intense but short lives of less than forty years. Their quick intellect and photographic memory make them gifted scientists and engineers, and the Salarian Union is renowned for its technological advances as well as its secrecy and intelligence-gathering.

Tension between the Salarians and the Krogan has lingered for centuries. Salarian scientists were responsible for creating the genophage that devastated the krogan population and ended the Krogan Rebellions.

Almost 90 per cent of the salarian species is male. Political power is centered in 'Dalatrasses', rare salarian females who negotiate the fertilization of eggs and the strategic alliances that result. Many salarian females chose to join the Andromeda Initiative as civilians, a significant break in salarian tradition.

Codex Entry: **Salarians, Culture**

In the Milky Way, the Salarian Union is dominated by the rare salarian females known as 'Dalatrasses', who negotiate the complex web of salarian politics on behalf of the regions they govern. Salarians belong to vast clans, whose interrelation and current political status must be painstakingly tracked. Clans are divided into concentric circles of relatives: those closest are in the first circle, which may be up to 100 members, and circles increase exponentially outward. This is considered confusing by other organic species, though it is mathematically straightforward.

Salarians do not have a concept of romantic love. The fertilization of eggs is a political act, since the lineage of any resulting females has a strong impact on society, and only occurs after months or even years of negotiations.

Multiple salarian females opted to join the Andromeda Initiative as civilians. Renegotiations of a dozen political dynasties in the Salarian Union were ongoing when it departed.

 **Chapter I – Slinth**

"You don't get it better anywhere else, Slinth.", the angara merchant countered.

The Salarian didn't like these homegrown aliens. Kadara had miraculous mountains, beautiful valleys, poisonous water – and these hillbillies. They reminded him of Asari, but with two genders instead of one. Normally they had narrow waists and broad shoulders, but this fellow on the other side of the stall was quite fat thanks to his diet.

"I would, but not as cheap.", Slinth replied, looking at the fruits displayed to him – not even one was looking fresh. Some were even exuding with putrefaction.

The heads of the Angara were full of tentacles, like the Asari, but theirs were thicker and at the side instead at the back of the head – and they even reached the shoulders. Their faces reminded Slinth always of felines, without the whiskers, but with the cat-like eyes – although their sclera was black instead of white and their irises were always deep blue.

The merchant snorted. "So do you buy it or not?", he asked, sounding annoyed.

Normally the skin color of Angara was various shades of blue or mauve and sometimes even green or tan, but the stall-owner's skin was so dirty, it could be anything. His clothes didn't look better and his teeth spoke of Broth-consumption – not food, but a local drug, which dyed the teeth brown.

Slinth's stomach growled. "Do I have a choice?", he replied, looking at a green fruit, which had the healthiest color, before pointing with a finger at it, "I take this one."

The Angara grabbed it and handed it over to him. "That comes to 500 Credits.", he said, while the salarian grabbed the fruit.

Obviously extortion, but still cheaper than other food sellers – Slinth paid the price. He took the fruit and turned around immediately, leaving the merchant behind. He took a bite of the fruit and thanked the Stars that he was so hungry – otherwise he would throw up. He went throughout the small market in this part of Kadara Port, where other stall owners sold their food. Due to the poisonous water cultivation of food was quite a challenge and most of it was imported from somewhere else – already only this increased the prices tremendously. But there were still the gangs consisting out of Outcasts from the Nexus as well like Angara and other Aliens found in the Heleus Cluster – except for the Kett, the mutual enemy of almost everybody, each race was represented. Their rivalries forced the prices for food to increase even higher.

 _Kelly has promised to stop this…_ the brown salarian remembered with anger, while leaving the market area. He passed few other pedestrians, while moving quickly throughout the confusing network called infrastructure in Kadara Port. He didn't need to take the elevators or doors, which were controlled by Kelly's people, and reached his home right after having finished eaten the fruit.

It was a hole, more or less hidden from most angles, but close to some generators and due to that warm enough to live there. And it wasn't empty, like Slinth had hoped – some familiar faces greeted him, when he approached the hole, which was covered only by a blanket. "Long time no see.", the human, armed and suited in armor, said with a grin. He had shaven his air to hide the grey in it, like Slinth knew.

"I said it once and I will tell you again, Cortez…", Slinth began with annoyance in his voice, "I am not working for Kelly anymore."

"We believe you.", the dark-blue Angara replied, as dressed and armed like Cortez, "Who wants to live in such a shithole voluntarily, needs to bear a big grudge." He was standing within the hole, beside the box Slinth was using as a table and he kicked a bucket full with trash away. He has inspected the salarian's home obviously.

"When I want to hear the opinion of a degenerated hillbilly, I ask you next time Nejik.", Slinth snorted back.

Anger flared upon the Angara's face and he wanted to step closer already, when a hand stopped him. "As suicidal as ever, what Slinth?", the almost dark-skinned Turian, whose hand this was, asked, "And we hoped you have learned something from your last meeting with Kelly."

Slinth snorted and crossed his arms. "Still as blind as a mole, that's Reimus Zakra for you.", he vented his rage, before looking at the human, "So what does Kelly want?"

"Nothing we know about.", Cortez replied, shrugging, "We don't work for her anymore either."

The salarian blinked several times. _Oh…that's interesting…_ he thought, before saying out aloud: "So…what do YOU want from me?"

The three armed people bandied looks. "We got a job offer.", Cortez was continuing to be the spokesman, "And we'll need a Hacker for it."

"Although we hoped you kept your armor suit…", Nejik interfered, looking still annoyed, "We didn't expect to see you in these…rags."

The Salarian didn't need to look down, to know that he looked like a beggar. "You need to be an expert of that.", Slinth responded, grinning evilly, "Your people's design.", the Angara started to growl, when the salarian looked at the human already, "My suit is stored away in a safe place. So how much do you get for this job?"

"In total 50.000 Credits.", Cortez replied, while Reimus held his friend once again, "We can divide it by four."

"Always the math-whizz.", Slinth replied, putting a hand at his chin, "But it sounds promising. How do you know that your employer doesn't shit you?", _like you're trying with me right now,_ "Who is he…or she?"

"You'll meet her soon enough.", Cortez replied, "She is trustworthy enough, I vouch for her. So are you in?"

The Salarian grinned, while putting down his arms. _Being able to get away from this shithole, while screwing you three at the same time?_ "Obviously.", he replied aloud, "So when do we start?"

* * *

"Mass Effect Andromeda", all copyrights reserved for Bioware and Electronic Arts

But the changes are mine.

Author's comment:

And with this chapter I introduce another character of my own – hope you'll like Slinth ^^

With this upload chapter one is officially over – I hope you liked it, want to review it and were not disappointed. I don't know when Chapter II will come – if chapter II will come – but probably not before Christmas. Have other priorities right now – hope you understand.


End file.
